Iowa students pick incumbents in straw poll

CEDAR RAPIDS — With 14 days to go before the real midterm elections, more than 13,000 K-12 students in Iowa spoke in Tuesday’s Youth Straw Poll: They picked Republicans Gov. Kim Reynolds and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley for re-election.

Before they made their choices, students in Michael McCune’s American Government class at Prairie High School took a quiz that helped calculate their political profiles. The quiz let students know what percentage of their personal politics align with different political parties.

McCune’s class will examine how Iowa students vote in the Youth Straw Poll in comparison with their parents and other Iowas by taking a look at the actual midterm results.

Olyvea Mann, 18, who is registered to vote in the Nov. 8 election, said she plans to vote for Democrat Diedre DeJear for governor, particularly because of her views on health care and abortion.

Mann said she is favors abortion rights because she believes women should have the right to make decisions about their bodies. She also believes health care should be made more affordable.

Lexy Schares, 18, planned to vote for Reynolds for governor. She agrees with some of Reynolds’ decisions made during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, including ending mask mandates and not requiring vaccinations. However, she is conflicted over Reynolds’ stance against abortion rights. Schares believes a woman should be able to make choices about her body, but her religious beliefs say life begins at conception.

While researching candidates, Schares also is learning the importance of voting. She said she used to think her vote didn’t matter, but in McCune’s class she is learning that every vote counts.

“It’s a really cool opportunity to have a say in our government,” Schares said.

Autumn Spicer, 17, was surprised by the results of her political identity quiz. Spicer thought she would more closely align with her conservative parents, but her results showed she is 43 percent Democratic in her beliefs, she said.

After taking the quiz, Spicer realized she needs to do more of her own research on each candidate instead of voting the way her parents do. It’s hard for people to learn to vote for themselves and “step away from their parents,” she said.

Spicer said he grew up in a religious household that opposed abortion rights. However, she believes that women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies, and not all women have “a good support system to have a baby,” she said.

Rena Niek, 18, plans to vote to “make the change I want to see,” she said. Niek voted for Democrat Mike Franken — who is running against incumbent Grassley for Senate — because of his stances on abortion, climate change and health care, she said.

Brianna Panosh, 17, said she wants to vote for candidates whose priorities include compassion for immigrants, people of color and historically marginalized people. She wants to see Iowa decriminalize the use of marijuana, so fewer people are incarcerated for the low-level drug offense, she said.

Panosh plans to vote for DeJear — “mainly because I don’t like Reynolds,” she said, particularly over her signing a law that bans transgender girls and women in the state from competing in school sports according to their gender identity.

Vote totals

Traditionally, the Iowa Youth Straw Poll has served as a good indicator of how the actual elections will shape up, according to Republican Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, the state’s top elections official who also is up for election this fall.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Reynolds had the most votes in the governor’s race, 8,068, or almost 61 percent. Democrat Deidre DeJear had 4,016 votes and Libertarian Rich Stewart had 1,183.

Incumbent Grassley garnered 8,226 votes, or 62 percent, to Franken, who had 5,055 votes.

Iowa’s four congressional races were also polled, with incumbents favored in all.

In the 2nd Congressional District representing Northeast Iowa including Cedar Rapids, incumbent Republican Ashley Hinson outpolled Democrat Liz Mathis, 1,894 to 961.

In the 1st Congressional District representing Southeast Iowa including Iowa City, incumbent Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks led Democrat Christina Bohannan, 2,642 to 1,757 votes.

In Western Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, incumbent Republican Randy Feenstra got 1,646 votes; Democrat Ryan Melton got 619 votes and Liberty Party Caucus candidate Bryan Jack Holder got 316 votes.

Only in the 3rd Congressional District did a Democrat win among students. Incumbent Cindy Axne pulled ahead of Republican candidate Zach Nunn by less than 350 votes.

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