DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Iowans kicked off the 2016 US presidential nominating contest yesterday with a first-in-the-country vote that could bolster or complicate the White House hopes of front-running Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Opinion polls showed Trump, a blunt-speaking billionaire businessman who has never held public office, with a small lead over his closest rival Ted Cruz, a conservative US senator from Texas.
Clinton, a former secretary of state, had a slight edge over top challenger Bernie Sanders, a self-styled democratic socialist US senator from Vermont.
Iowans began choosing candidates at 7 pm CST (0100 GMT today), and results were expected within a few hours for the first state-by-state battle to pick nominees for the November 8 election to succeed President Barack Obama.
The 2016 election is shaping up to be the year of angry voters as disgruntled Americans worry about issues such as immigration, terrorism, income inequality and healthcare, fuelling the campaigns of Trump, Sanders and Cruz.
Some activists were projecting Republican voter turnout that far exceeded the normal average from previous years. Long lines were reported at many caucus sites with many new voter registrations, a trend that may favor Trump.
“They say the record crowds are good for us so we’ll see what happens,” Trump said, acknowledging he was “a little bit” nervous.
Iowa has held the first nominating contest, called a caucus, since the early 1970s, giving it extra weight in the US electoral process that can translate into momentum for winning candidates. The caucuses are voter gatherings that take place in 1,100 schools, churches and other public locations across the Midwestern state.
A win for Trump could validate a campaign that has alarmed the Republican establishment, dwarfed the efforts of many seasoned politicians and been marked by controversies such as his calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and for a wall along the Mexican border.
Candidates took to social media to encourage their supporters to turn out or contribute funds.
“We can and we will get back to the founding principles that made America great,” tweeted Cruz (@tedcruz) with the hashtag #CaucusForCruz.
On the Republican side, opinion polls show foreign policy hawk Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, might win third place in Iowa and stake a claim as the best hope for the party’s mainstream.
