The 6 main points of the Republican party caucuses in Iowa

Donald Trump demonstrated with his victory in the Iowa caucuses on Monday (15) that he still dominates the Republican party.

The former president of the United States won the Iowa Republican caucuses by a record margin, beginning his attempt to secure his party's third consecutive presidential election nomination.

Trump achieved the result even though he did not participate in debates, for example.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis edged out former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley into a distant second place, though the next contest for the nomination will be in New Hampshire, where polls show Haley in a much stronger position.

The results in Iowa demonstrated how devoted Republicans remain to Trump amid an unusual campaign waged between primaries and court appearances as he fights four charges, including lawsuits linked to efforts to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Here are six key takeaways from what happened in the Iowa GOP caucuses:

Trump praises opponents

As he celebrated his historic victory Monday night in Des Moines, Trump set aside nicknames and insults he uses against Republican rivals.

He congratulated DeSantis, Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on their performances and described the three as “very smart people, very capable people.”

But the message to his main opponents could not have been clearer: it is time to get out of the race and embark on his candidacy.

“It’s really important and I want to make this a big part of our message: let’s come together. This will also happen soon”, highlighted Trump.

The Republican field has now narrowed even further: Ramaswamy, who finished fourth, ended his campaign and immediately supported the former president.

Trump is way ahead of the rest

With the former president surpassing 50% of the vote in Iowa and neither DeSantis nor Haley achieving an isolated second place, Republicans are no closer to a one-on-one contest between Trump and some other candidate than in 2016.

Speaking to supporters after Trump gave his victory speech, Haley and DeSantis vowed to continue their campaigns.

“We received our ticket to leave Iowa,” said the governor of Florida. He was scheduled to visit Haley's home state of South Carolina before heading to New Hampshire, where he will participate in the CNN Town Hall .

Haley, meanwhile, is within single digits of Trump in New Hampshire, polls show.

She hopes to capitalize on a more moderate electorate and use it as a launching pad to effectively position herself as the party's only alternative to Trump.

“I can safely say that tonight Iowa has turned the Republican primary into a two-person race,” she told supporters.

Types of voters who supported the candidates

Polls showed the breadth of Trump's support in the Republican party's main constituencies.

For example, 53% of white evangelical Christians supported Trump, compared to 27% who supported DeSantis and 13% for Haley.

These numbers underline why the former president is the heavy favorite in South Carolina, where evangelicals make up a large portion of the party's primary electorate, even though it is Haley's home state.

College graduates are split somewhat evenly between Trump, Haley and DeSantis. But the businessman dominated those without a university degree, with 67% support.

Haley dominated the electorate made up of those who identified as moderate or liberal. She won the support of 63% of that group, a number that would bode well for a general election showdown with President Joe Biden.

However, it also reflects how far Haley has to go to make inroads with Republican primary voters.

Polls found she fared well with those who believe Biden won the 2020 election fairly and with those who say the quality that mattered most to them was having the right temperament.

DeSantis, for his part, has shown more strength among the Republican Party's core constituencies.

Of those whose vote was based on the candidate who shares their values, Trump led with 43%, but DeSantis' 31% was well ahead of Haley's 13%.

Still, with few signs of weakness from Trump, it's unclear where DeSantis has opportunities to make gains.

Haley wants to end the “Trump-Biden nightmare”

As the race shifts into more favorable territory for Haley, she used her Monday night speech in Iowa to argue that she is the “antidote” to a rematch between Biden and Trump.

Haley argued that the majority of Americans disapprove of both the current president and the former president and insisted that her campaign is “the last hope to stop the Trump-Biden nightmare”.

Although she congratulated Trump on his victory, she highlighted that the businessman and Biden have “more in common than you think”.

“Trump and Biden lack a vision for the future of our country, because they are both consumed by the past, by investigations, by revenge, by grievances. America deserves better,” she said.

DeSantis promises to continue campaign

After being declared the runner-up in the caucuses, DeSantis told supporters that he survived after having “everything thrown at him” in Iowa, while promising to continue his campaign.

However, the governor is entering what could be a difficult phase, with polls indicating he is far behind Trump and Haley in New Hampshire.

Trump is expected to dominate the Republican party conventions in Nevada.

Thus, DeSantis' hopes may depend, in large part, on external factors. The upcoming trials against Donald Trump could become a critical point that will alter the trajectory of the electoral race.

Haley, who has faced increasing scrutiny in recent months, could stumble in New Hampshire.

DeSantis' decision to visit South Carolina first, before traveling to New Hampshire, shows the state's importance.

That's where Haley served as governor, but primary voters may align more with DeSantis' politics. Upsetting Haley on her home turf in the Feb. 24 primary could propel DeSantis into Super Tuesday on March 5.

Another blow to the Iowa caucuses

DeSantis bet everything on Iowa. He visited all 99 counties in the state, a feat popularized by former Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. He also had the support of popular governor Kim Reynolds.

Ultimately, all he achieved was a distant second place, behind a former president who barely campaigned in Iowa and a late-rising rival who has long been much more focused on New Hampshire.

The results demonstrated the continued nationalization of presidential nomination contests.

So Monday night made clear the dwindling influence of local officials, as more than half of the state's Republican legislators supported DeSantis, and of activists, as influential conservative Bob Vander Plaats, a right-winger in recent years three winners of the Iowa Republican caucuses, lost to DeSantis this year.

The result also played against Ramaswamy, who was the candidate who held the most events in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.

The best Iowa Republicans could say was that the caucuses were nowhere near the vote-counting disaster that Democrats faced in 2020, when the party couldn't immediately decide whether Pete Buttigieg or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had won, a mess that led the Democratic National Committee to downgrade Iowa in its nominating process.