A panel of 10 Iowa voters was convened by the openly anti-President Donald Trump CNN network recently ahead of Trump’s visit to the state.
Trump spoke in Des Moines on June 11 while the Democratic frontrunner, former vice president Joe Biden, was also in the state campaigning.
The 10 voters CNN convened were three Republicans, three Democrats, and four independents. Reporter Randi Kaye kicked off the sequence by asking how many were considering voting for Trump’s re-election in 2020; four raised their hands. Two raised their hands indicating they were considering voting for Biden, while a third made a motion that she was iffy on the notion.
Frank Moran, a Republican, said he voted for Trump and planned to vote for him again.
“The economy is booming. We’re—I just feel that everything that I’ve been wanting to have done is being done,” Moran said.
Heather Halterman, another person who indicated support for Trump, said that the president “is working on border control, which I think is really important.”
Larry Reinsch, who said he’s been an independent for his entire life, said he’s supporting Trump. “I’ll vote for somebody who’s going to protect and defend the constitution,” he said.
On the other hand, voters were split on the Democratic field, with only one being sold on Biden despite his frontrunner status, according to CNN.
“He can do a good job of bringing the country together. If we can move past rhetoric and we can bring someone who is more respected worldwide, I think we can have a better country from that,” said Noah Hamoud, voicing his support for Biden. One independent said they were not going to vote at all and others indicated that Biden’s response to sexual harassment allegations by various women affected their support for him.
Another voter said she was thinking of voting for Fort Wayne, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg while another said she supported Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Haley Ledford, a Republican, said she was among those who will vote for Trump, though she said that a Republican candidate “who represented my personal morals” would get her vote over Trump if they entered the race. The upcoming election will be her first time voting for a president.
Responding to criticism about Trump, Reinsch, the independent, said: “Many people realize they hired a wealthy guy that’s common to have a supermodel on his arm. That’s his lifestyle. That’s actually irrelevant. It’s about how they’re going to defend our constitution, defend our borders and our sovereignty and tell us the truth even if it’s rough, laced with cut words. We don’t want the political correct message. We want the truth.”
2016 and 2020
Trump won Iowa in 2016, earning 800,983 votes in the state versus the 653,669 that his opponent Hillary Clinton earned. Thirty-one counties in Iowa voted for Barack Obama in 2009 and 2012 before shifting support to Trump in 2016.
George W. Bush won Iowa in 2004 and Al Gore won Iowa in 2000.
With dozens of contenders, the Democratic field is far from certain even as Trump has virtually no challengers for the Republican ticket as he continues enjoying high approval numbers from Republicans.
According to the RealClearPolitics polling data collected from different places, Biden has been on top of three of the four most recent polls for the Democratic nominee while one had a tie on top between Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Buttigieg and Warren have also seen strong support in some of the polls.
