7 in 10 Iowans who caucused for Trump say they knew they’d support him all along: Survey

About 7 in 10 Iowans said they knew all along they would support former President Trump in Monday’s caucuses, according to the Associated Press’s VoteCast poll.

The survey’s results demonstrate Trump’s commanding grip on the Republican Party in a state where he won more than half of the support on Monday night.

Almost two-thirds, 62 percent, of Iowa caucusgoers said they consider themselves supporters of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement, with 36 percent saying they do not, according to the survey.

Enthusiasm for Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, seen as the beginning of the modern-day MAGA movement, likely helped his campaign build up significant support ahead of the primaries.

The former president, who commands the field by a wide margin, received 74 percent of support from those who said they supported his MAGA movement, according to the AP. He also brought in 13 percent support from those who said they did not consider themselves supporters of the movement.

When looking at the counties by population, Trump performed strongly in rural areas — where about 60 percent of caucusgoers said they live, per the AP. The survey also showed the former president excelling with evangelicals and those without a college degree.

Broken down by issue, the survey takers said immigration and the economy were at the top of their list. Roughly 4 in 10 caucusgoers identified immigration as the most important issue, and nearly 60 percent put their support behind Trump on the issue.

According to the survey, nearly 90 percent of Republican voters in the Hawkeye State support building out the U.S.-Mexico border wall, one of Trump’s campaign priorities. Nearly three-quarters of respondents also said immigration was hurting the U.S.

Around one-third of caucusgoers said the economy was their priority — with nearly 50 percent of them supporting Trump, the survey found.

Trump’s command on the party is also clear by the share of GOP caucusgoers who said they think President Biden was not legitimately elected in 2020, a claim that has been unsubstantiated. Only 34 percent of those surveyed said Biden was legitimately elected, and 63 percent said he was not.

Trump won 71 percent of those who doubted Biden’s victory.

As of Tuesday morning, Trump was poised to take the victory in all but one county, which was won by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. In the end, DeSantis emerged in second place in the caucuses, followed by Haley.

The AP VoteCast survey, completed in tandem with the NORC Research Center, was conducted across the eight days before Monday’s Iowa caucuses among 1,597 voters who said they planned to take part in the caucuses. The estimated margin of error is 3.4 percentage points.