By Austin Alonzo
Former President Donald Trump cemented his place as the top choice in Iowa, but Nikki Haley has risen to second place.
On Jan. 13, J. Ann Selzer’s Selzer & Co. Iowa caucuses poll published by the Des Moines Register, NBC News, and Mediacom Communications Corp., found former President Trump has 48 percent of likely caucusgoers support.
Significantly behind President Trump, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has 20 percent of voters backing her. Following her, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 16 percent support. Finally, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has 8 percent support.
“Our grassroots supporters have put us in position to win, and now we have to show up to caucus,“ President Trump said in a statement issued in response to the poll. ”We have to show up.”
In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Ms. Selzer said she does not think Ms. Haley’s support in the poll will hold up the night of the Republican Party of Iowa’s Caucus.
The poll surveyed 705 likely Republican caucusgoers and was conducted between Jan. 7 and Jan. 12. It carries a margin of error of 3.7 percent.
Moreover, Ms. Selzer said Mr. DeSantis’s group of supporters showed the most commitment to show up and caucus for him. This factor could allow him to rise above Ms. Haley on the evening of Jan. 15, especially considering the subzero conditions across the Hawkeye State.
The Selzer & Co. report was the last of six polls published by various organizations in the final week ahead of the Iowa Caucus. Every poll found President Trump leads by a margin of 28 percent to 41 percent. The Selzer & Co. poll reported the slightest lead for President Trump at 28 percent.
Two of the six polls found Ms. Haley tied with Mr. DeSantis. The rest determined they were tied for second place. Every poll placed Mr. Ramaswamy in fourth.
Trump Campaigns Digitally in Iowa
Amid the dangerously frigid and slick conditions across much of Iowa, President Trump held a live-streamed “telerally” on Saturday night where he focused most of his ire on President Joe Biden.
President Trump promised to teach Democrats a lesson in the forthcoming general election.
As for the former South Carolina governor, President Trump said she’s “getting a lot of her money from globalists” and that “she’s not strong enough to be president.”
DeSantis, Haley, and Ramaswamy Make Final Appeal
Mr. DeSantis campaigned across Iowa with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, and The Family Leader CEO Bob Vander Plaats. He received a dubious participation trophy from a comedian in Atlantic, Iowa, and met with his most enthusiastic supporters at the Never Back Down Inc.’s Iowa headquarters in West Des Moines, Iowa.
Ms. Haley gave her stump speech in Iowa City, Iowa. There, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) said voting for Ms. Haley would give America a chance to “fire Joe Biden and enable a Republican to move forward.”
Mr. Ramaswamy continued his long-shot campaign in spite of blizzard conditions across the state. He got stuck in a ditch early Saturday morning but didn’t let that dissuade him.
A bigger obstacle presented itself to Mr. Ramaswamy late on Saturday when President Trump declared Mr. Ramaswamy is “not MAGA.”
“A vote for Vivek is a vote for the ‘other side’ … Don’t get duped by this,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday evening. “Vote for ‘Trump’ don’t waste your vote!”
Janice Hisle, Lawrence Wilson, and John Haughey contributed to this report.
