Trump's Record Breaking Iowa Performance Is Panicking The Competition

On Monday, a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll revealed that leading Republican presidential candidate and 45th President Donald Trump's lead in the Hawkeye State is all but insurmountable as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (R-SC) continue to vie for second place far below the former president. Trump's lead is the biggest recorded lead this close to a caucus in the poll's history.

According to the poll, which was conducted with 502 Republican voters from December 2 to December 7, Trump is picked by 51 percent of Iowa voters as their first pick for the Republican nomination, while DeSantis has 19 percent support and Haley has 16 percent backing. The other remaining candidates in the race only picked up single-digit support, with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (R-OH) getting five percent backing of the Republican electorate and former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) receiving four percent. Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), who remains in the race despite not qualifying for the last three GOP debates, got one percent while Dallas-based pastor Ryan Binkley got zero percent support.

"The field may have shrunk, but it may have made Donald Trump even stronger than he was," said pollster J. Ann Selzer. "I would call his lead commanding at this point. There's not much benefit of fewer candidates for either Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley."

The poll also found that Iowans believe that Trump can defeat Biden irrespective of the various legal cases brought against him in recent months. From those polled, 73 percent believe that Trump can win the presidency against Joe Biden amidst his legal challenges, up from 65 percent in October, while only 24 percent believe that it is not possible, down from 32 percent in October. Amongst the voters of the Hawkeye State, Trump is also seen to have the most balanced political views, with 71 percent saying that he is neither too moderate nor too conservative. Republicans also view DeSantis's and Haley's views to be "about right" as well but with a lower majority at 60 percent and 55 percent, respectively. 

As the Iowa caucuses continue to approach in a little over a month on January 15, Trump's commanding lead of the field spells bad news for any campaign attempting to catch up with him. The recent polling out of Iowa mirrors the national landscape, with Trump dominating the competition. According to the Five Thirty Eight national polling average, Trump has 59.3 percent support of Republican primary voters, while DeSantis and Haley are both in the low teens.

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