Iowa kicks off the U.S. 2024 primary season, and Donald Trump will discover whether he has an insurmountable lead for the Republican presidential nomination, or opponents can spring a surprise.Four criminal indictments are pending against Trump, putting the former president at risk of imprisonment.
Still, he has one of the biggest poll advantages in modern times over Republican rivals at this point in a campaign.While they all are vying to run in next November's election as the party seeks to unseat Democratic President Joe Biden, Trump is dominating the race so far."We're going to make America great again," Trump promises at his rallies, echoing the slogan that catapulted him to power in 2016.But as past U.S.
elections have shown, polls this far ahead of the vote should be viewed with caution.The real verdict comes in the intraparty nominating contests of various states, starting with the Iowa caucuses on Jan.
15, when Trump hears from voters for the first time since leaving the White House.As tradition dictates, voters in the rural state of Iowa will open the primary season, as they have done since 1972, gathering in places like school gyms and fire stations to poll on their preferences at individual precinct meetings known as caucuses.In Iowa as elsewhere, Trump still has a loyal base that brushes aside his legal troubles."I don't even understand what the crime is," said Adam Miller, a 61-year-old farmer and Trump supporter whom AFP met in Makoqueta, a town in eastern Iowa near the Mississippi River. "I mean, if he's accused of murder or bribery...