Former President Donald Trump dominates rival Governor Ron DeSantis by nearly 20 points in Iowa, according to a new National Research Inc. poll commissioned by the Center for American Greatness. The survey of 500 likely 2024 Republican Presidential Caucus voters found that 44 percent of respondents favored Trump compared to 26 percent who backed DeSantis. Twelve percent of likely voters said they were undecided, and the remaining voters were split between the six other candidates.
The Iowa Caucus is traditionally the first major contest of the United States presidential primary season, held in late January or early February of the presidential election year.
DeSantis did better in a head to head match-up, with 33 percent backing his candidacy compared to 45 percent for Trump. Another 11 percent were undecided.
Trump had a slight edge over DeSantis on the question of favorability, with 72 percent of Iowa voters having a favorable opinion of him versus 71 percent having a favorable opinion of DeSantis. However, more Iowa voters had an unfavorable opinion of Trump (28 percent) than DeSantis (21 percent).
An overwhelming 87 percent of Iowa Republicans said they approved of the job Trump did as president, while 13 percent said they disapproved.
When asked which type of Republican candidate they would be more likely to support, “a conservative political outsider” or “a conservative fighter who gets things done,” likely voters overwhelmingly chose a fighter over an outsider, 73 percent to 13 percent.
Of the two top contenders, more Iowa Republicans thought Trump had a better chance of beating Joe Biden than DeSantis, 30 percent to 32 percent, with 16 percent indicating they have an equal chance. Likely voters overwhelmingly considered Trump to be the best candidate to improve the economy over DeSantis, 57 percent to 15 percent, and the strongest candidate to oppose far-left progressives, 43 percent to 26 percent. Fifteen percent of voters said the candidates would be equally good for the economy and 20 percent said the candidates would be equally strong in opposing the far-left.
Voters also indicated they have a stronger bond with Trump, responding that he cares more about their needs and concerns than DeSantis 40 percent to 19 percent. The Florida governor did better than Trump in one important category—temperament. The survey found that 43 percent of likely voters thought DeSantis has the right temperament to be president versus 31 percent who believed Trump has the right temperament to be president.
National Research Inc. surveyed 500 likely Republican primary voters in Iowa using live telephone interviews (landline and cell) and text-to-online. The survey was conducted on May 9-11-2023. The margin of error is +/- 4.38 percentage points.