The nomination process for the U.S. presidential election in November will formally begin Monday when Republicans in the state of Iowa express their preferences at precinct meetings, with all eyes on whether any of the remaining challengers stand a chance against Donald Trump.
Amid conditions that have seen blizzards and temperatures that dropped to about minus 30 C in recent days, Republican voters in the Midwest rural state will gather for the meetings, known as caucuses, in places such as school gyms and churches.
The first-in-the-nation nomination contest, which could be the coldest since the process was established in the 1970s, comes as the 77-year-old former president holds a lead of about 50 percentage points over his closest rivals in national polls.
The keys to watch will be whether Trump's huge polling lead translates into votes and to what extent his top challengers -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley -- can gain ground.
DeSantis, 45, whose campaign has struggled for months, and Haley, 51, whose momentum has been growing in recent weeks, are neck-and-neck for second place, vying to win the hearts of uncommitted Republicans.
"I know it's going to be cold, but think about this, you will get to set the direction for the country and if you will join with me in this movement...I promise you our best days are yet to come," Haley said in concluding a campaign event on the eve of the voting day on the outskirts of Des Moines.
Two other candidates, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 38, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, 73, are also in the race, but polls have shown them trailing Trump by even bigger margins.
Despite facing 91 criminal charges in four separate cases, Trump has remained popular among his supporters.
President Joe Biden entered 2024 -- a year which will chart the direction of the United States and most likely the world in the near future -- with persistently low approval ratings.
Trump is leading Biden in some important battleground states, according to polls, raising doubts over whether the incumbent can secure a second term.
The Iowa Republican presidential caucuses will award 40 delegates to the party's national convention. The first nominating contest, followed by New Hampshire on Jan. 23, represents only a very small number of the total 2,429 Republican delegates up for grabs, yet it has long exerted a major influence on subsequent primary and caucus results.
History has shown that the eventual nominee almost always wins Iowa or New Hampshire, or at least beats expectations in one of the two states.
The two main parties nominate a presidential candidate through a string of state primaries and caucuses held until their respective conventions in the summer.
Yet the Republican Party's choice may become clear with the results of "Super Tuesday" on March 5, when more than a dozen states will hold their primary contests.
Unlike primaries, which are akin to ordinary elections, caucuses require voters to gather at a specific time to discuss their preferences publicly.
Turnout on Monday may be affected by the brutal weather, but Jason Miller, a senior campaign advisor to Trump, told reporters that "the weather affects everybody the same" and that his "supporters are very dedicated and very loyal, and they will turn out no matter what the conditions are."
In a change from past practices, the Democratic National Committee has made South Carolina its first nominating contest on Feb. 3, with Nevada coming next on Feb. 6. The move followed Biden's request that his party's nomination calendar prioritize states that are more racially diverse than Iowa and New Hampshire, whose populations are each about 90 percent non-Hispanic whites.
Iowa is notably less urban than the rest of the United States. Des Moines, the state's capital, has a population of just over 200,000.
