Iowa caucus voters want Trump as President despite criminal cases

Des Moines (Iowa) : Former US President Donald Trump has won nearly every voting bloc in the Iowa caucus, leaving his closest rivals Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley struggling for the second spot for the coveted Republican nomination to the White House race.

NBC News entrance poll results revealed that Trump was romping home with a massive victory and a few key groups helped lift the former President to a massive victory Monday night.

Trump’s best showing came from caucus goers who did not have a college degree (67 per cent), those who identified as very conservative (61 per cent), voters over 65 years old (58 per cent) and white Evangelicals (53 per cent).

Trump's showing among those groups was up from 2016, when at that time only two in 10 voters in each group supported. His support base among white Evangelicals alone went up 32 points, from 21 per cent in 2016 to 53 per cent in 2024.

Trump also won among caucus participants who said they valued a candidate who fights for people like them (82 per cent) and those who made up their mind on which candidate they would support earlier than this month (66 per cent), reports said.

Just less than half (46 per cent) Iowa Republican caucus goers identified themselves with Trump's MAGA, or Make America Great Again, movement and three-quarters of them voted for him.

Two-thirds said they did not think that President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election and roughly 7 in 10 of those caucus goers supported Trump on Monday. Eight in 10 Iowa Republican caucus participants identified as Republicans and 54 per cent of them voted for Trump.

Another 16 per cent identified as independents and Trump secured 42 per cent of their vote (compared to only 22 per cent in 2016), NBC's early poll results showed. The independents supporting Trump largely did not have college degrees (64 per cent), identified as conservative (51 per cent) and are over 45 years old (50 per cent).

About two-thirds of Iowa Republican caucus participants said that Trump would be fit to be President even if he were to be convicted of a crime.Among those who said Trump would be fit to be president if he was convicted of a crime, 72 per cent voted for him on Monday.

When asked which candidate quality mattered most in deciding who they would vote for, 4 in 10 Iowa caucus voters said they wanted someone who shares their values. Another 32 per cent said they valued a candidate who fights for people like them. Biden's handling of the economy mattered most to Iowa Republican caucus goers, followed closely by immigration.

Trump secured 52 per cent of economy voters and 64 per cent of immigration voters. When asked if there should be a federal law banning most or all abortions nationwide, 61 per cent of Iowa Republican caucus goers said they would favour a ban and 35 per cent said they would oppose it. Trump won a majority (55 per cent) of voters who favor an abortion ban.