Donald Trump will continue on to the New Hampshire primaries more confident than ever about capturing the Republican nomination after the former president secured a 30-point win in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.

Related: Iowa caucus key takeaways: Trump’s hold on Republicans is clear but second place isn’t

Trump won 51% of the vote in Iowa, giving him the largest margin of victory in the history of the state’s Republican caucuses. Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, secured a distant second-place finish with 21% of the vote, while Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador trailed in third place with 19%. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who came in fourth, dropped out of the race following his disappointing performance.

As he delivered his victory speech in Des Moines on Monday night, Trump complimented his opponents as “very smart people, very capable people,” and he appeared to already be turning his attention to a potential general election rematch against Joe Biden.

“We’re going to come together. It’s going to happen soon,” Trump told the crowd.

Trump’s history-making victory in Iowa intensified skepticism that any of his opponents will be able to overtake him in the Republican primary. Despite the 91 felony counts against him, Trump has maintained a consistent and significant lead in the 2024 US race, and the Iowa results underscored his enduring popularity with the Republican base.

Even so, DeSantis voiced optimism as he addressed supporters on Monday night, dismissing any possibility of withdrawing from the race.

“Because of your support, in spite of all of that they threw at us, everyone against us, we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa,” DeSantis said.

Haley also remained undaunted after Trump’s runaway victory. Even though she failed to capture second place, Haley boldly declared that the primary was now “a two-person race” between her and Trump, given her momentum in the next voting state of New Hampshire. According to the FiveThirtyEight average of New Hampshire polls, Haley is now roughly 11 points behind Trump, having cut his lead in half over the past month.

“Tonight, I will be back in the great state of New Hampshire,” Haley told supporters in West Des Moines on Monday. “And the question before Americans is now very clear: do you want more of the same, or do you want a new generation of conservative leadership?”

The results of the Iowa caucuses indicate Republicans may be quite happy with more of the same.