Campaign Almanac: Trump’s Iowa lead huge, unchanged in Iowa State University poll

There was no surprise, and very little movement in the final Iowa State University-Civiqs poll ahead of Monday’s first-in-the-nation Iowa Republican caucuses.

Just like all the ISU-Civiqs polls before it, the final edition, published Thursday, showed former President Donald Trump with a commanding lead over the remainder of the Republican presidential primary field in Iowa.

Trump was the top choice of 55 percent of those surveyed for the ISU-Civiqs poll, well clear of the second-place tie between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley at 14 percent each.

Trump’s support increased slightly since the December ISU-Civiqs poll, while DeSantis’ and Haley’s support levels dropped slightly.

“The biggest news from this is, of course, the stability of this race. Again, not a lot of people are changing their mind,” Dave Peterson, Lucken Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University and organizer of the ISU/Civiqs poll, said in a news release. “People who came into this race knowing they wanted Donald Trump to be the nominee have kept that position the entire time, which is about half of likely caucusgoers.”

The Iowa State-Civiqs poll published monthly, starting in September. The latest results represent the opinions of 433 registered Iowa voters who said they “definitely” or “probably” will participate in Monday’s Iowa Republican caucuses. The poll was conducted from Jan. 5 through Jan. 10, and has a margin for error of plus or minus 6.4 percentage points.

Hinson: $1.4 million on hand for re-election campaign

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, announced raising more than $550,000 in the most-recent fundraising quarter, and has more than $1.4 million cash on hand.

Hinson, a former state lawmaker and former KCRG-TV news anchor, is running for a third term representing Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. The district includes Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Waterloo and Grinnell.

Cedar Falls Democrat and small-business owner Sarah Corkery is running to challenge Hinson.

Corkery, a first-time candidate and two-time breast cancer survivor, launched her bid in October, and had not yet announced her campaign hauls for the final fundraising quarter of 2023.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau