Republicans dispute public opinion polls

URBANDALE - Iowa Republicans rallied Tuesday to build homestretch momentum that will carry Donald Trump to the White House and down-ballot candidates to victory over their Democratic opponents in the final two weeks leading up to the Nov. 8 election.

GOP leaders insisted polls showing Trump trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton are wrong because they are undercounting GOP support and they believe they got a huge boost from this week's announcement of double-digit health insurance rate increases due to Obamacare policies championed by Democrats.

'This is a colossal failure of Obamacare,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican in Iowa to attend GOP rallies in Urbandale and West Des Moines. He said Republicans again in 2017 will vote to repeal Obamacare, which Trump would sign and Clinton would veto as the next president.

'That's a huge difference. This election will determine the future of Obamacare, there's no doubt about it,” said Sessions.

Sessions and Carrie Almond, president of the National Federation of Republican Women, who made stops in Polk County on a nationwide bus tour to campaign for Trump and the GOP team, disputed that Trump is not getting support among women who are concerned about 'big picture” issues like health care costs, national security, jobs and the economy more than distractions magnified by the media.

'I have traveled 39 states across the United States and I have seen the enthusiasm with all the people that we rally with,” said Almond of Chillicothe, Mo. 'What they are saying is the polls are not reflecting what they feel and they are seeing.

'I can even see the difference now driving down the road. When we first kicked off the tour, we received quite a few middle fingers as we traveled down the road. Right now we receive way more high-fives and thumbs up and even in the truck stops,” she added. 'I don't know another pollster that's traveled to 39 states, so I think I have a little bit or credibility. I don't know who they're calling but I know who I'm talking to.”

Almond cautioned against putting a diverse bloc of voters, such as women, into 'the same basket,” saying 'this election is about way more than gender” given the myriad domestic and international challenges that will confront the next U.S. president. 'We would love to have a woman in the White House. We just want the right woman in the White House,” she noted.

Officials with the Hillary for Iowa campaign countered Republican's 'Women for Trump” event by issuing a statement reminding voters of Trump's 'misogynistic treatment” of women and pointing to more than 200 Iowa women who are committed to promoting Democratic female candidates up and down the ticket in Iowa.

'When Jeff Sessions is taking the lead on women's outreach for your campaign, you know you have problems,” said Hillary for Iowa Press Secretary Kate Waters. 'Iowans don't want a president who calls women ‘fat pigs,' ‘bimbos,' and ‘dogs.' They want a president like Hillary Clinton who treats women and girls with dignity and respect and advocates for policies like pay equity that will increase opportunities.”

Gwen Ecklund of Denison, president of, the Iowa Federation of Republican Women, said she senses growing excitement in Iowa, noting she was getting 'real positive responses” when knocking of doors of Democratic homes in Davenport and Cedar Rapids this week. 'I hope the trivial things aren't focused on and that we get to the meat to what is involved in daily lives,” she said.

Sessions, who was campaigning in North Carolina and Ohio before coming to Iowa, said he believed support for Republicans was 'moving in a good direction” and he believed prospects were good for Republicans in Iowa depending on turnout, intensity of interest and Trump 'staying on message.” He told a West Des Moines crowd he has not seen a better organized state than Iowa for Republicans.

'I think we're seeing Trump move up and if he can continue that to Election Day, he's going to win this election,” he said.

Later, at a Polk County Republican fundraiser in West Des Moines, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told party rank and file members they have a lot to do in the next two weeks to convince friends, neighbors and strangers to get to the polls to support GOP candidates.

'Two week from today is going to be a big day for Republicans,” she said.

Ernst said she is supporting Trump, although she made clear she did not condone some of the things he has said during the campaign - referring to criticism Trump has faced for making lewd comments about women. The Iowa senator said she is 'fighting for my country and the Republican Party is the future or our country.”