Trump Extending His Lead Over GOP Field in Iowa Ahead of First Primary

Former President Donald Trump has managed to put more distance between him and the rest of the 2024 GOP presidential field in Iowa, where the first primaries will take place early next year, according to a local media report.

“Support for Nikki Haley has swelled in Iowa: The former United Nations ambassador has pulled even with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in what has become a heated battle for second place in the first-in-the-nation caucus state,” the Des Moines Register reported Monday.

“But former President Donald Trump still dominates the race. He’s ahead by 27 percentage points—a lead that has expanded slightly despite his mounting legal problems,” the outlet’s report continued.

The paper cited a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll of likely Republican caucus voters that found 43 percent named Trump as their first choice for president, up slightly from 42 percent in the August poll.

Meanwhile, DeSantis and Haley are tied at 16 percent each. That is a 3-point drop for DeSantis and a 10-point increase for Haley.

“You just have (Haley) rising. You have DeSantis kind of holding on for second place,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the Iowa Poll. “But both of them are on ground that you could only describe as shaky compared to the solid ground that Donald Trump stands on.

“If anything, he’s showing improvement,” Selzer added, according to the outlet.

Trump was already polling well against his primary rivals nationally, but his campaign just got even better news on the eve of Mike Pence’s announcement that he was leaving the race.