What Iowa Means For Political Race

The Iowa Caucuses are over and many are trying to interpret what the results will mean for each candidate.

Ted Cruz was the big winner on the Republican side Monday night beating presumed front runner Donald Trump, who had been leading in the most recent polls.

Dr. Kenneth Manning, a professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth says that the results showed what many believed could be a real problem for the Trump campaign.

"What we saw was that the voters didn't show the same level of support for Trump that the polls indicated," said Manning "and if that continues to be the case for Trump, as many political experts all along thought then Trump is in real trouble."

However, Manning says trump does have an opportunity to turn things around saying that New Hampshire has an electorate that's far more favorable to the billionaire candidate.

The two top democrats had a neck and neck race with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton narrowly edging out Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by less than one percent.

While that was certainly seen as a boost for many sanders supporters Manning says the real test for Sanders will come after New Hampshire, another state sanders is expected to do well in.

"I think the real test for Bernie Sanders is can he play well in states that don't reflect his strong demographic which is younger voters, upscale white liberals," said Manning "can Sanders win in places like Nevada or South Carolina where the Democratic Party electorate is very, very different."

Manning also says that after New Hampshire the electoral map strongly favors Clinton.

The presidential field narrowed after the caucuses as both parties saw candidates drop out of the race with Democrat and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley and Republican and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee announcing that they were suspending their campaigns.

With the New Hampshire primaries roughly a week away Manningsays it's unlikely we'll see candidates dropping out before then.

However, after the primaries Manning says the field is likely to thin out more.

"It's no surprise to see Huckabee or O'Malley drop out of the race after Iowa," said Manning "they were the longest of long shots anyway and after Iowa it's very clear that it's not going to happen and we're likely to see something similar happen after New Hampshire."

He said that for many republican candidates such as Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio a strong showing in New Hampshire is essential if their campaigns are to remain viable.