What are undecided Republicans looking for in a presidential candidate?

Karen Deters is keeping her options open as she surveys the increasingly crowded Republican presidential primary field.

While she’s not committed to a specific candidate, the 65-year-old Ankeny resident likes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, whose Ankeny town hall she attended this month.

She said she’s “not necessarily a MAGA person,” but she has not ruled out supporting former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner in national polling, in the Iowa Republican caucuses, the first test of presidential hopefuls’ strength.

Deters said she is looking for somebody with her conservative values, somebody who can lead, has a proven record and will “stand up to the ridiculous woke culture that our country has turned to.”

“I don’t want to really commit to (a candidate) now, or home in on one,” she said. “It’s a long, long road ahead.”

Deters is not alone among Iowa Republicans, many of whom want to hear from the GOP presidential hopefuls who will continue to visit the state over the next 10 months.

The support for Trump, who leads national polling, is similarly high in Iowa, with 40 percent to 60 percent of Iowa Republicans supporting, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Other announced and likely candidates include former Vice President Mike Pence, Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and conservative talk radio host Larry Elder.

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University of Iowa political science professor Tim Hagle said Iowa Republicans roughly fall into three groups: Committed Trump supporters, those who want to avoid another Trump nomination, and those in between.

“Some people are already decided on Trump, some people are decided already against Trump … and then you’ve got people that are on the fence and looking around,” he said.

The message without the messenger

Voters like Mark Behrer of Urbandale are open to other options.

He attended an event this month to hear Vivek Ramaswamy, an Ohio biotech entrepreneur who has proposed, among other ideas, raising the voting age to 25.

Behrer, 65, said he wants to hear from all the candidates. He said he’s looking for someone who can keep up the substance of the Trump administration without the “polarizing” messaging from the former president.

“Donald Trump's policies were, I thought, very good,” Behrer said. “The way he interacts with people is a little bit polarizing — a lot polarizing. And if we could find somebody who wasn't quite so polarizing, but sort of leaned toward the same policies, I think that’s a win.”

Behrer’s wife, Carol, said she has not ruled out Trump. She said she liked his performance in the CNN Town Hall earlier this month, and if he sticks to that demeanor and messaging, he may gain her support.

Gerald Starr turned out to hear Nikki Haley in Urbandale. The 82-year-old veteran and California transplant is participating in the Iowa caucus process for the first time next year.

“I believe in the conduct of becoming (a military) officer. I believe the same conduct should apply to the commander-in-chief,” he said. “So he did a wonderful job for four years, but his personality is his main drawback.”

As candidates crisscross the state seeking to break ahead among Iowa voters, they are making a similar case — that Trump has too much baggage, that someone else is needed to win the general election.

“You want a fighter, somebody that’s going to do that, but maybe with a different style that’s not quite as aggressive,” Hagle said of the strategy Trump’s primary opponents are taking. “And so that's kind of the approach I think some people are looking for.”

Haley, speaking to a small crowd in Ankeny this month, said the party needs to embrace a new generation of leaders and “leave the baggage in the past,” making a veiled jab at Trump.

“Don't complain about what you get in the general (election) if you don't play in this caucus,” she said. “Because it matters. … This is the moment. This is when we could do it.”

Winning general election is key

Even as they attended events for other candidates, one name was common on the shortlist among Republicans looking for a fresh face in the primary: Ron DeSantis.

The Florida governor has made recent visits to Iowa, but he has not formally declared his intention to run for president, though he is expected to announce his intentions soon.

In Iowa last week, he soft-launched an argument that he would be a better general election pick then Trump, telling voters they need to “reject the culture of losing that's affected our party in recent years.”

Several voters who are considering their options were dubious that Trump could beat Biden after losing the 2020 election. They worried Trump would alienate voters and turn away some independents who would vote for a different Republican candidate.

Jake Hoverst, of West Des Moines, said winning having a candidate who can win the general election is the top priority in his caucus choice.

“There are going to be a lot of people that show up to vote against Trump, and I don’t think as many of those people are going to vote against somebody like a DeSantis, or really anybody else,” he said.

Trump’s campaign and his allies have pointed to polls that show Trump leading Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup. A Harvard-sponsored Harris poll released Friday showed Trump with a 7-point lead over Biden, while DeSantis tied Biden.

“Despite spending millions of dollars and running a monthslong shadow campaign, the poll also finds that more voters feel that ‘Ron DeSantis is fading’ now than last month,” Trump’s campaign said in a news release on the poll. “More striking, Ron DeSantis would not beat Joe Biden or Kamala Harris — the most unpopular vice president in modern American history — in a general election.”

Despite their interest in options, Republican voters interviewed for this article said they would not hesitate to support Trump if he ends up as the party’s nominee.

“If Trump were the one who was nominated, compared to the alternative, he’s got my vote,” Mark Behrer said. “But I think there are other options within the Republican Party, and I think we ought to look at them.”

Comments: cmccullough@qctimes.com