Iowa entrance polls show MAGA fans turned out for caucus: Live updates

Last year, Idaho lawmakers passed cost-cutting legislation that was intended to move all the state’s primaries to the same date in May — but the bill inadvertently eliminated the presidential primaries entirely. The Republican-led legislature considered holding a special session to reinstate the presidential primaries but failed to agree on a proposal in time, leaving both parties with presidential caucuses as the only option. The GOP presidential caucuses will be on Saturday, while the Democratic caucuses aren’t until May 23.

The last GOP caucuses in Idaho were in 2012, when about 40,000 of the state’s nearly 200,000 registered Republican voters showed up to select their preferred candidate.

For this year, all Republican voters who want to participate will have to attend in person. They will vote after hearing short speeches by the candidates or their representatives.

If one candidate gets more than 50% of the statewide votes, that candidate will win all the Idaho delegates. If none of the candidates gets more than 50% of the votes, then each candidate with at least 15% of the total votes will get a proportionate number of delegates.

The Idaho GOP will announce the results once all the votes are counted statewide.

Trump placed a distant second in the 2016 Idaho primary behind Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

The Missouri Republican Party held its presidential caucuses on Saturday, offering state voters their only chance to weigh in on who should represent the party on the November presidential ballot.

Voters lined up outside a church in Columbia, home to the University of Missouri, before the doors opened.

“I don’t know what my role here will be, besides standing in a corner for Trump,” Columbia resident Carmen Christal said, adding that she’s “just looking forward to the experience of it.”

This year will be the first test of the new system, which is almost entirely run by volunteers on the Republican side.

The caucuses were organized after GOP Gov. Mike Parson signed a 2022 law that, among other things, canceled the planned March 12 presidential primary.

Lawmakers have failed to reinstate the primary despite calls to do so by both state Republican and Democratic party leaders. Democrats will hold a party-run primary on March 23.

Trump prevailed twice under Missouri’s old presidential primary system.

Michigan Republicans at their convention in Grand Rapids on Saturday began allocating 39 of the state’s 55 GOP presidential delegates. But a significant portion of the party’s grassroots force was skipping the gathering because of the lingering effects of a monthslong dispute over the party’s leadership.

Trump handily won Michigan’s primary this past Tuesday with 68% of the vote compared with Haley’s 27%.

Michigan Republicans were forced to split their delegate allocation into two parts after Democrats, who control the state government, moved Michigan into the early primary states, violating the national Republican Party’s rules.

Donald Trump has won Missouri‘s Republican caucuses, one of three events Saturday that will award delegates for the GOP presidential nomination.

The former president, who is especially strong in caucuses, was adding to his delegate lead in Republican caucuses in Missouri as well as at a party convention in Michigan. Idaho was scheduled to hold its caucuses later Saturday. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, meanwhile, is still seeking her first win.

There are no Democratic contests on Saturday.

The next contest is the GOP caucus Sunday in the District of Columbia. Two days later is Super Tuesday, when 16 states and American Samoa will hold primaries on what will be the largest day of voting of the year outside of the November election. Trump is on track to lock up the nomination days later.

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Ariana Baio writes:

When Anderson Clayton walks into the room casually dressed in a fun graphic tee, nearly everyone’s head turns and the noisy chatter lulls into excited whispers. Eyes remain locked on her as she begins embracing each of her fellow Democrat leaders.

Clayton is somewhat of a local celebrity in North Carolina, her energy enough to move an immovable object.

The rest of the country doesn’t realise that this 26-year-old is currently leading the Democratic Party in North Carolina, a pretty serious job at any age.

But for those at the Young Democrats of North Carolina Convention, not only is she the state party leader, she is the future.

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Mr Trump is four points ahead of President Joe Biden in a New York Times/Siena College poll conducted in late February.

The poll, released on Saturday, shows Mr Trump at 48 per cent and Mr Biden at 44 per cent among likely voters – among registered voters, Mr Trump had 48 and Mr Biden 43 per cent.

In a hypothetical matchup with Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador and the last remaining Republican challenger to Mr Trump, Mr Biden came in at 37 per cent to Ms Haley’s 46 per cent.

Forty-seven per cent of likely voters said they were strongly disapproving of Mr Biden’s handling of the job.

Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina tweeted: “NYT chases headlines while ignoring what’s happening. Trump consistently underperforms & Biden overperforms in primaries. In NH, Trump 7 pts worse poll v result. In SC -8 points & MI -10 points. Best predictor of elections = how voters vote. And they’re voting for Dems & Biden.”