Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says the results of the Iowa caucuses shouldn't deter the voting public from continuing to campaign for their hopeful candidate, particularly if that candidate is not former President Donald Trump.
The latest polling data from YouGov ranks Trump far ahead of the other nominees with 69%, and Hutchinson ranks last with 1%.
But in an interview with Scripps News, the Republican presidential candidate said there's been "artificial pressure" applied on his fellow hopefuls and on voters to narrow the race before it's really even begun, therefore cutting lower-polling candidates, like him, too early.
And as Monday's caucuses represent the first 2024 presidential nominating contest of many to be held in the coming months, Hutchinson said there's still a long road ahead for ranks to change in the polls and in the public's choice, especially with controversy surrounding Trump.
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"This is going to go into the spring, and the gathering storm clouds around Donald Trump will start to dump in the spring. And so we’ve got to be prepared, and you've got to be in the race to show that there are options," Hutchinson told Scripps News.
Instead of looking to the caucuses as the deciding factor, the Arkansas Republican said the Iowa caucuses should be a place of potential momentum for his campaign and others, lifting them where they need to be lifted to clinch the delegates needed to become the party's nominee.
"I think you've got to look at: Do you have momentum coming out of here? Are you beating the expectations?" Hutchinson told Scripps News' Chance Seales. "There ought to be three storylines: Who's first, how close is second and then who's beating expectations? And I should be a part of that."
