Caucusgoers say Trump best candidate on economy, being feared by US enemies, Iowa Poll finds
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Likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers view Donald Trump as the best candidate to handle an array of issues as president — from the economy to caring about people like them to protecting America’s democracy.
Trump far outpaces his chief rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination on eight questions tested in the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll.
Seventy-seven percent of likely GOP caucusgoers name Trump the candidate who would “be the most feared by U.S. enemies,” while 68% say he would “do the best job with the economy.”
Brett Schaapveld, a 55-year-old poll respondent from Nichols, said he felt like he had money in his pocket when Trump was president. Schaapveld, a Republican and a truck driver who is unemployed, praised the trade deals Trump signed and called him “a tried-and-true businessman.”
“The economy was sailing along smooth,” Schaapveld said. “Most people agree with that. Except my mother.”
The poll of 502 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted Dec. 2-7 by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
GOP majorities pick Trump as ‘strongest leader’ and candidate who can ‘keep your family safest’
Fifty-nine percent of likely Republican caucusgoers say Trump would “be the strongest leader,” while the same percentage say he would “keep your family safest.”
Schaapveld picked Trump as the candidate best able to handle all eight issues tested by the poll, including keeping his family safest.
“Donald Trump didn’t get us into any new wars,” Schaapveld said. “And he was planning on getting us out of Afghanistan, and he had a plan to do that. And he didn’t get 13 soldiers killed on the way out.”
Athena Lance, a 55-year-old poll respondent from Solon, said under President Joe Biden, “I feel like now war is inevitable.” She said she sees the leaders of Russia, China and Iran befriending each other and worries about an attack on the United States.
Lance, a registered Republican who considers herself more of an independent, rated Trump the Republican candidate who would keep her family safest and be most feared by U.S. enemies, although she still fears an attack.
“It’s not a matter of whether or not it’s going to happen,” she said. “They all hate us. So, it’s a ticking time bomb now. And granted, I would like to think that someone like Trump could come in and try to smooth things over, but I don’t know. There’s a lot of hate for us, for some reason.”
Half or more of likely caucusgoers say Trump best at ‘protecting America’s democracy,’ ‘making the federal government function’
Trump, who has been criminally indicted on accusations of mishandling classified documents and attempting to overturn the 2020 election, is named by 55% of likely Republican caucusgoers as the candidate who would “do the best job protecting America’s democracy,” and by 50% as the candidate who would “do the best job making the federal government function.”
Fred Miehe, a 70-year-old poll respondent from Cedar Falls, said if re-elected, Trump can “hit the ground running” to fix issues within the federal government. Miehe, an independent voter, plans to register as a Republican to support Trump in the Jan. 15 caucus.
Since Trump left office, Miehe said federal agencies have not been working for the American people, but instead have been used by Democrats for their own special interests. He pointed to allegations by Republicans that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups.
“At the end of the day, we need somebody who is going to go out there and break things to fix them. Sometimes you have to tear it down to build it back up,” said Miehe, a commercial real estate broker.
Less than half of caucusgoers say Trump would ‘care the most about people like you’ — but he still leads his rivals
Trump received his lowest score on the questions of which candidate would “care the most about people like you,” at 47%, and “be the most respected by leaders of friendly countries,” at 46%, but he still far outpaces the support his rivals receive on those qualities.
On the caring “most about people like you” question, the next-highest candidate is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 19%, followed by 17% who choose former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Lance said Trump “makes me feel like I am important.” The tax cuts Trump signed into law showed her he cares about people, she said.
“I feel like he really cares about the little guy,” said Lance, a U.S. postal worker. “I’m just a blue-collar worker and I work my butt off. I worked two jobs almost my whole life. I don’t look for nobody to hand anything out to me ... and I just feel like he is the one who cared about people like us and to help the small people rise, versus always helping the well-off.”
Miehe said Trump's actions show he cares about everyday Americans, stating Trump is “the only politician that’s gone into politics that is less wealthy than when he came out,” a contention that the former president made in 2019.
“To me, that tells me that that’s a guy with a mission, and his mission lines up with mine,” Miehe said. “We’ve got a great country, and we need to get back to what made us great. If he’s willing to take the arrows and make his own investment, to me, that’s a badge of a man with integrity.”
Nikki Haley gets her highest mark for dealing with leaders of friendly countries
Haley, who has emphasized her foreign policy experience in her campaign, scores her best on the question of who would “be the most respected by leaders of friendly countries,” at 24%.
Still, Trump receives nearly double Haley’s support, at 46%.
Jacquelyn Hein, a poll respondent and small business owner in Monticello, said Haley’s previous relationships with other world leaders make her the best candidate to handle foreign policy matters.
Hein praised Haley’s unequivocal support for aid to Ukraine, saying it’s important the United States protect its interests abroad against Russia.
“I feel if she has a history with those countries, she’ll know where to stand up,” said Hein, 62.
Yet despite Haley’s foreign policy experience, only 7% of poll respondents rank her as the candidate who would be most feared by U.S. enemies, her worst score.
Ron DeSantis earns one of his highest marks for ability to ‘make the federal government function’
DeSantis is rated by 19% of likely Republican caucusgoers as the candidate who would “do the best job making the federal government function.” That’s tied with “care the most about people like you” for his highest mark. DeSantis is running on his record of conservative achievements in Florida and says he’s shown he can take on his political opponents and get results.
Doug Beer, a poll respondent and 44-year-old IT project manager from Gilbert, said he plans to support DeSantis because of that record.
He pointed to DeSantis’ resistance to COVID-19 restrictions, saying it shows he’s the best candidate to make unpopular decisions to make the federal government function in a way that's best for the American people.
“People don't always know what's best for them,” Beer said. “Sometimes people have to make decisions that are best for them, whether they acknowledge it up front or not. Ron DeSantis did that in Florida … My hope is that he’d have the courage to do that at the federal level.”
Still, Trump has more than twice as much support on the question as DeSantis, with 50% naming Trump the one who would do the best job making the government function.
DeSantis gets his lowest score on the question of which candidate would “be the most feared by U.S. enemies,” at 6%.
Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy in the single digits on all issues
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy earn only single-digit support from likely Republican caucusgoers on all eight questions.
Ramaswamy’s highest rating is on the question of who would “do the best job making the federal government function,” at 8%, followed by who would “care the most about people like you,” at 7%.
His worst rating is on the question of which candidate would be “feared most by U.S. enemies,” at 2%.
Christie is named by 5% of likely GOP caucusgoers as the candidate who would “keep your family safest” and by 5% as the candidate who would “do the best job making the federal government function.”
He is selected by just 3% of poll respondents on four questions: who would “be the strongest leader,” “be the most respected by leaders of friendly countries,” “be feared by U.S. enemies” and “do the best job protecting America’s democracy.”
Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
About the Iowa Poll
The Iowa Poll, conducted Dec. 2-7, 2023, for The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 502 registered voters in Iowa who say they will definitely or probably attend the 2024 Republican caucuses.
Interviewers with Quantel Research contacted 3,733 randomly selected voters from the Iowa secretary of state’s voter registration list by telephone. The sample was supplemented with additional phone number lookups. Interviews were administered in English. Responses for all contacts were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect their proportions among voters in the list.
Questions based on the sample of 502 voters likely to attend the 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents—such as by gender or age—have a larger margin of error.
Republishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit to The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Mediacom is prohibited.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Trump named best to handle economy, protect democracy, Iowa Poll says
