Polls: Trump’s on top; Branstad’s not

MANCHESTER - With Donald Trump leading the polls in Iowa and nationally, the other candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination are looking for encouragement where they can find it.

'Which poll are you talking about?” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wondered when a reporter asked him Tuesday about a new Public Policy Polling survey showing him tied for sixth place in Iowa with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 6 percent.

'Did you see the Reuters poll?” Huckabee asked. 'I'm tied for third. I like the Reuters poll. Looks really good.”

In that Reuters poll, Trump led with the backing of 24 percent of GOP voters - the same as before the Aug. 6 Fox News debate. He was followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 12 percent.

No other candidate earned more than 8 percent in the online poll conducted between the end of the debate and Sunday.

Huckabee was tied for third with retired physician Ben Carson at 7.2 percent - just behind 9.3 percent who said they wouldn't vote.

'PPP, you know, is a Democratic company. We don't put as much stock in it,” he said. 'The Reuters poll is usually a very reliable indicator” and his campaign's internal poll is 'closer to the Reuters poll.”

The PPP poll did have some good news for Huckabee. It showed that if the general election were held today, he would beat Democrat Hillary Clinton by 1 percentage point in Iowa.

The strongest Republican against Clinton in the state is Carson, who leads her 44 percent to 40 percent. Huckabee and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker would beat Clinton 44 percent to 43 percent, PPP said, and Rubio would win 43 percent to 42 percent.

Sen. Chuck Grassley

Sen. Chuck Grassley looks to be in pretty good shape for re-election next year with a 52-32 percent approval rating, easily making him the state's most popular politician and making him one of the more popular U.S. senators. He leads his prospective Democratic opponents Bob Krause 51 percent to 29 percent, Tom Fiegen 53 percent to 30 percent and state Sen. Rob Hogg 52 percent to 28 percent.

The Democratic candidates are little-known, with name recognition ranging from 18 percent to 22 percent.

Gov. Terry Branstad

Gov. Terry Branstad is not very popular right now, with 42 percent of voters approving of him to 47 percent who disapprove. By a 34 percent to 49 percent margin, they disapprove of his veto of funding for the major universities in the state.

Voters disapprove of Branstad's veto of $56 million for K-12 education by 29 percent to 57 percent. His most unpopular action by a 20 percent to 63 percent margin was to veto the bipartisan plan to keep open two of four Iowa mental health institutions. Republicans opposed that veto 37 percent to 42 percent.

Other findings

' Seventy-two percent of Iowa voters, including 54 percent of Republicans, support increasing the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour. Just 23 percent support keeping it at $7.25 or eliminating the federal minimum wage.

' Iowans favor mandatory background checks on all gun purchases by 85 percent to 8 percent. That includes 94 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of independents and 78 percent of Republicans.

' Seventy-six percent, including 62 percent of Republicans, say same-sex marriage being legal either has had a positive effect on their lives or none at all.