Iowa GOP prepares for Trump-led general election

Just as they are across the country, Republicans in Iowa were getting used the idea Wednesday that, after a long fight, Donald Trump is virtually assured of being the party's presidential nominee.

With Ted Cruz dropping out late Tuesday and John Kasich throwing in the towel Wednesday, there appeared to be little, if anything, standing in the way of a Trump victory.

The New York real estate developer's win is an extraordinary turn, given the controversy he has generated on the campaign trail - and the steps many in the party have taken to prevent him from getting the nomination. But now that he appears to have it in hand, many Iowa Republicans were preparing for the general election, trying to figure out what a Trump-led ticket will mean.

Doug Gross, a Des Moines lawyer and longtime Republican, let out a deep sigh when a reporter asked about Trump's prospects in the state. His eventual answer: 'It depends on what Trump morphs into.”

As for his own vote this fall, Gross wasn't sure if he would vote for him.

'I don't know. It would be tough to do right now,” he said. Trump's trade policies would be bad for Iowa, he said.

At same time, Gross, a former gubernatorial candidate, dismissed any notion of voting for Clinton.

'I'm tribal enough to say no to that,” he said.

Party leaders, up and down the ranks, said Wednesday they are counting on the prospect of a Clinton presidency to unite Republicans this fall.

'I operate around the philosophy of ABC - Anybody But Clinton,” said Judy Davidson, the Scott County Republican chair who was working with others Wednesday to move out of the party's headquarters in Davenport to a larger space for the general election.

Bill Matthews, a 67-year-old veteran, wearing a Trump shirt, said he liked Trump's business credentials and immigration stance, but he also echoed Davidson.

'If they don't vote for Donald Trump, they're voting for Clinton,” he said.

Still, the thought of a Clinton presidency isn't enough to lure some Republicans to a Trump vote.

'I couldn't support Donald Trump. I'd lose all credibility if I supported someone like that,” said A.J. Spiker, a former state GOP chair. He said, if elected, Trump would simply be a 'big government Republican.”

In addition to doubts about Trump's conservative credentials, Trump has racked up high negatives in the primary fight. He also has clashed bitterly with Republican rivals. Only this week, he echoed a tabloid story saying Ted Cruz's father was with Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

In a CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday, 56 percent of registered voters in both parties nationwide reported a negative view of Trump. Clinton was viewed unfavorably by 49 percent, the poll said. But that was the same number that had a favorable view of her. Trump, on the other hand, is seen favorably by 41 percent of Americans.

About one in four Republicans see Trump negatively, while one in six Democrats have an unfavorable view of Clinton, the poll said.

Some veteran Republican strategists argued Wednesday that Trump can win Iowa, which is typically a battleground presidential state. And, they said, shifts in public opinion are natural when moving from a primary to a general election.

'Anybody who counts him out is a poor student of history,” said Steve Grubbs, a Davenport-based political consultant.

In addition to uniting against Clinton, party officials say the prospect of a nontraditional candidate such as Trump running against someone who has been part of the national political debate for more than 25 years - and has baggage of her own - is a good matchup in this year of voter dissatisfaction.

'I like the optics of that,” said Jeff Kaufmann, the Republican Party of Iowa chair.

Still, analysts said Trump has a lot of work to do with some demographic groups, principally women, who make up more than half of a general election electorate.

'Right now, he'd be in the toilet with them,” Gross said.

Recent Iowa polling isn't available, but the CNN/ORC poll said 64 percent of women who are registered voters have an unfavorable view of Trump.

Iowa analysts said winning women in the suburban areas of Des Moines and in such places as Bettendorf and Marion are key to a Republican winning Iowa in the fall.

Already, Democrats were targeting that demographic.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon from the Iowa Democratic Party, Chair Andy McGuire said Trump 'oozes with misogyny and his treatment of women as objects is deplorable.”

Kaufmann said Trump needs to 'explain himself” and point to the women he has hired in his organization.

'There's a difference between a tweet that might be considered rude and how you feel about a particular set of individuals,” he said.