We’re days away from the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, and opposite to the same old sense of anticipation, voters there aren’t anticipating any surprises — they usually’re a bit annoyed about it. “It looks as if there’s a front-runner that may’t be beat,” stated Caleb, a 27-year-old who joined a current Occasions Opinion focus group of Iowa voters who plan to attend the G.O.P. caucuses on Monday evening.
The front-runner, after all, is Donald Trump, who has a roughly 30-point lead in Iowa polls and a good greater lead in some nationwide polls. We needed to make use of this month’s focus group as a possibility to listen to what Republican voters in Iowa are enthusiastic about him, the race and the nation on the whole.
“I suppose I might pray and hope that Trump might be extra just like the outdated Trump than this Trump,” stated Nancy, a 69-year-old retiree. The excellence she made between the “outdated Trump” and the “new Trump” zeroes in on a criticism about him we heard all through our dialog: Many citizens on the precise help what he stands for and like a lot of what he did as president, however they’re rising bored with his rising focus since Jan. 6, 2021, on complaining about being unfairly handled. “I really feel like proper now all I’m listening to is simply all the things that’s going in opposition to him. It’s simply all of the authorized troubles. I actually haven’t heard a lot about what he’s planning on doing,” stated Brittney, a 38-year-old author.
Nonetheless, a few of our members felt that the numerous legal costs introduced in opposition to Mr. Trump solely made them extra sympathetic towards him. “I don’t assume it hurts his capability to win the nomination in any respect. I’d say it simply strengthens him,” stated Hugh, 57. We requested the eight members if a conviction would cease them from voting for the previous president, and 4 stated it might.
If Mr. Trump got here in for criticism, there have been additionally some powerful phrases for his major rivals, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who’ve campaigned throughout Iowa for months. Some focus group members preferred Ms. Haley’s presentation and expertise with overseas coverage however have been crucial of her home agenda (or, they felt, an absence thereof). A number of preferred Mr. DeSantis’s insurance policies however weren’t followers of the person himself. The members weren’t supporters of President Biden by any means, however solely half of them stated they have been assured the eventual Republican nominee would win the White Home in November.
Megan 32, white, waitress
Nancy 69, white, retired
Caleb 27, white, engineer
John 67, white, engineer
Brittney 38, white, author
Patrick 58, Black, guide
Jamie 52, white, buyer care
Hugh 57, white, gross sales