Donald Trump accuses Ted Cruz of fraud in Iowa

Mr Cruz later apologised for the email. The billionaire businessman placed second behind the conservative Texas senator.

As the candidates barrel toward New Hampshire, which on Tuesday will hold the election’s first primary, early signs have shown Rubio to be climbing there after his Iowa performance.

But New Hampshire presents a different voter calculus because independent voters can participate in either party’s primary. “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it”, Mr Trump said in a series of tweets.

He also called Iowa’s caucus system “much more difficult” and acknowledged that “we could have done much better with the ground game” in the state. Republicans had already been looking to New Hampshire to winnow their congested field, and the Florida senator’s strong showing bolsters his case that Republicans should coalesce behind him as the mainstream alternative to the rowdier Trump or Cruz.

A previous tweet from Mr Trump accused the Cruz campaign of telling Iowa voters that Ben Carson was quitting the race so he could steal Mr Carson’s votes.

Both Sanders and Clinton flew immediately from Iowa after the caucus to New Hampshire and began barnstorming the state.

Election ads sponsored by Mr Cruz and his allies included old footage of Mr Trump supporting women’s right to an abortion and saying that state-backed healthcare is necessary. “She said, ‘I’m not trying to persuade you, Ben Carson is dropping out of the race tomorrow morning”, said Allen. He continues to rise in the polls, and she narrowly beat him in Iowa on Monday.

According to the poll, 67 percent of independents (voters not registered with a party) plan to vote for Sanders, while only 27 say they’ll to vote for Clinton.

“This was a mistake from our end, and for that I apologize to Dr. Carson”, Cruz wrote. “I think some people were disappointed I didn’t go in the debate”.

“That’s wonderful”, she said when asked by CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper about Sanders’ majority support among young people in Iowa.

Trump complained about how the media has characterized the results of the Iowa caucuses, noting that Marco Rubio “came in third, and they’re saying he had this incredible evening”.