Outrage Spreads After Early Call for Trump

How can you call an election over before the ballots are even cast?

That’s what many observers, even in the press, were asking on Monday night after the Associated Press called the Republican Party of Iowa’s Jan. 15 Caucus for President Donald Trump a little over a half hour after the caucuses began.

Many accused the AP of breaking its own rules by calling a race while the polls were still open.

In a separate article, the AP said the earliest returns and its own surveys of likely voters indicated President Trump had an “insurmountable lead.”

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Most of the ire came from the Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s campaign. In an interview broadcast by NBC, campaign manager James Uthmeier said the early call was “appalling.”

Mr. Uthmeier said the call before many cast their ballots had a chilling effect on voters.

“One guy said, ‘Why do we even bother voting if it’s already over?’” Mr. Uthmeier said about his experience at a local caucus where he saw voters react to the news alert.

“This is a grave concern. This cannot happen in this country. This challenges the very foundation of our democracy to have winners announced before voting,” Mr. Uthmeier said. “That’s something you see in the Middle East, not the United States of America.”

Those gathered at the caucus night watch party for businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were bemused by the prompt declaration.

Troy Barkhaus, of Altoona, who participated in a caucus, said it was improper to declare President Trump the winner when less than 3 percent of the vote had been tallied.

“I would say so, yes. We hadn’t even voted by then,” he said, adding the media should report “something like, he’s in the lead” rather than declaring a winner.

Elliot Frey was surprised—“very much so”—by the early call, but accepted it because “that is the media world we live in.”

Alyssa Wallace and her husband, Seth Wallace, who live in downtown Des Moines, were surprised.

“That’s insane to me to call it that early,” Ms. Wallace said. “We didn’t even vote until at least 7:30.”

According to election results reported by the Republican Party of Iowa, with 78.8 percent of the vote reported at 11:30 Eastern Standard Time, President Trump won 50.9 percent of the vote. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis secured 21.3 percent. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley took 19.1 percent.

Mr. Ramaswamy dropped out of the presidential race on Monday night.

John Haughey contributed to this report.