republicans. the final des moines register/nbc news poll shows donald trump support at 48%. nikki haley second at 20%, ron desantis, third at 16%. extremely cold, blizzard-like conditions have forced campaigns to cancel or modify events in the crucial final weekend before the caucuses. candidates are still working to get people out to vote. monday is going to be cold. really cold. but what i m asking you is if you will take the time to not just go to the polls, take people with you. wear layers, because you might be standing in line. take your i.d. but think of the fact that you might be making history in this moment. they can throw a blizzard at
people with you. wear layers because you might be standing in a line. take your id. but think of the fact that you might be making history in this moment. they can throw a blizzard at us and we are going to fight. cnn s chief u.s. national affairs correspondent jeff has more from iowa. reporter: with two days to go before the iowa caucuses, open the republican presidential nominating contest, donald trump still remains the far and away front runner in iowa. according to a new des moines register nbc news poll. this iowa poll which has a storied history of capturing the final moments in this race shows that donald trump is at 48% in the poll. the race for second place is a fascinating one with nikki haley edging out florida governor ron desantis just narrowly. nikki haley has 20% followed by desantis at 16%. the rest of the field is far below. vivek ramaswamy, 8%. the rest goes down from there. but it is the top of the field
wear layers because you might be standing in a line. take your id. but think of the fact that you might be making history in this moment. i m a florida boy, born and bred, and yet here i am in negative temperatures. i am not going to be if people are willing to come out and hear from me, i m going to show up all the way until the end of this caucus. you re going to see me everywhere. the forecast has the trump campaign down playing expectations, but trump himself is arguing that the severe weather could be an advantage. here he is. we have the worst weather, i guess, in recorded history, but maybe that s good because our people are more committed than anybody else so maybe it s actually a good thing for us. cnn correspondent kristen holmes is in iowa with the latest on the brutally cold day of campaigning. reporter: former president donald trump and his team sending two messages, one is get
and it is nasty out there. i worry about that, but at the same time, i m watching the newscast today and they re sayings trump voter has so much more spirit and dedication, they say they walk over glass. that the trump voters are coming to vote. now my name is going to be called. it is going to be cold. wear layers. you might be standing in a line. take your i.d. but think of the fact that you might be making history in this moment. they could throw a blizzard at us and we are going to find. they could throw windchill at us and we re going to fight. now all indications are that this is still trump s race to lose here in iowa. the critically important des moines register poll showing that he has captured nearly 50%
particularly given the circumstances surrounding the weather, the fact that it s expected to be the coldest iowa caucus that has ever been recorded in history with temperatures hitting potentially below 10 or below 15 degrees. these candidates, nikki haley telling her supporters that they re going to have to bundle wear layers, but imploring them to get out and making their final pitches in the hours before they actually go and vote. victor, amara? all right. thank you. the polls show that donald trump could score this historic win i that are up for grabs after former new jersey governor chris christie dropped out of that race. which candidate will benefit most from his exit? cnn s omar jimenez has more. reporter: chris christie hasn t endorsed anyone yet, but there s one candidate most likely to benefit from his exit. a cnn poll from new hampshire showed 65% of christie voters