Former President Donald Trump has increased his already-overwhelming lead over the rest of the Republican field in Iowa, with 51% of likely caucusgoers calling him their first choice, a new poll shows.
The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, released Monday morning, shows Trump, 77, with the largest lead the survey has ever recorded so close to a GOP caucus.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 45, placed a distant second with 19% support, with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley close behind at 16%.
Trump gained eight percentage points from the outlet’s late October poll, while DeSantis picked up three percentage points after completing his goal of visiting every county in the Hawkeye State.
Haley, despite landing a major endorsement from the Koch political network’s Americans For Prosperity Action super PAC last month, failed to make any gains from late October.
No other Republican candidate got above double digits.
Former President Donald Trump has increased his lead over the rest of the GOP field with 51% of first choice-support in Iowa. REUTERSBiotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy came in fourth with 5% support — up from 4% in October — followed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie staying flat at 4%. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson was at 1% and Texas pastor Ryan Binkley continued to poll at 0%.
“The field may have shrunk, but it may have made Donald Trump even stronger than he was,” J. Ann Selzer, president of the Selzer & Co. polling firm, told the Des Moines Register.
“I would call his lead commanding at this point. There’s not much benefit of fewer candidates for either Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has widened his lead in Iowa by 3 percentage points to 19% compared to the October poll. REUTERSOverall, 76% of likely Republican caucusgoers say they are considering backing Trump on Jan. 15, up from 67% in October.
That figure includes 51% who say he is their first choice, 13% who say he is their second choice and 11% who say they are actively considering him.
The ex-president also had the largest share of “very favorable” ratings among poll respondents at 49%, compared to DeSantis’ 24% and Haley’s 20%, and leads his challengers among every demographic, according to the poll.
Former North Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley came a distant third in the Iowa poll with 16%. APThe number of likely GOP caucusgoers who are confident that Trump can defeat President Biden in a hypothetical general election has increased eight percentage points to 73% since October — even as Trump faces 91 felony charges across four separate criminal cases.
Only 24% of poll respondents said that the 45th president’s legal woes will make it nearly impossible for him to trounce Biden next November.
The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll surveyed 502 likely Republican caucus-goers via telephone from Dec. 2-7 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4%.
Meanwhile, new CNN polls have fond that Trump now leads Biden in Michigan and Georgia — two key battleground states that the sitting president won in 2020.
In Georgia, 49% of polled registered voters said they preferred Trump, compared to 44% who picked Biden.
In Michigan, the former president captured 50% of support to Biden’s 40% among poll respondents.
