Trump at 51% in Iowa, leads DeSantis by 37 points: poll

Former President Donald Trump is the clear front runner in Iowa, the site of the Republican primary's first nominating contest.

The Hawkeye state hosts the Iowa Caucus, which is slated for January of 2024. The contest's first-in-the-nation status often prompts would-be party nominees to invest heavily in the state in hopes of notching an early win, a strategy many of Trump's primary rivals have enthusiastically embraced.

Such efforts appear to have had little impact, however, as the former president boasted 51% support among likely Caucus attendees in an Iowa State University/Civics poll released Friday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ranked second with 14% support while former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley placed third with 10%, edging out tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy, whom 9% of respondents backed.

"The race right now is clearly President Trump, a small second tier of four candidates — DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, and Scott — and then a lot of candidates without much support at all. Trump’s lead is strong, but it also might be something of a ceiling because most Iowans have strong opinions about him," said Political Science Professor Dave Peterson.

A further 13% considered Trump their second choice, while 21% said the same of DeSantis. Eighteen percent backed Ramaswamy as a second choice, followed by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott with 16% and Haley with 11%.

Conducted between Sept. 2-7, the survey questioned 434 likely Republican Iowa Caucus attendees and has a margin of error of +/- 5.8%.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.