- This close to the Iowa caucuses, Trump has the largest lead ever in election history
- Ex-president has a 32-point lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has 19%
- In a separate poll, Trump has a lead over Biden in the swing states of Michigan and Georgia
Donald Trump has the largest lead ever in the Iowa caucus – at least 32 points ahead of the rest of the Republican primary field, with less than 30 days until the caucus starts.
The former president has 51 percent support in the Hawkeye State, according to an American newspaper Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom survey released on Monday and executed from December 2 to 7.
Meanwhile, second-place Florida Governor Ron DeSantis holds just 19 percent and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is even further behind at 16 percent ahead of the caucuses.
Iowa is the first state to hold a primary with caucuses on January 15, followed by the New Hampshire primary just two weeks later on January 23.
Trump has consistently ranked first in all primary states, as well as nationally.
A new poll in Iowa shows that Donald Trump has the largest lead in election history this close to the caucuses
The 32-point lead in the latest Iowa poll is “the largest recorded this close to a competitive Republican caucus in the history of this Iowa poll,” NBC News notes.
The next closest lead to Trump's in a Des Moines Register caucus poll in Iowa was in 2000, when George W. Bush defeated Steve Forbes by 27 points, according to NBC's Steve Kornacki.
Bush went on to win Iowa, the nomination and the presidency.
Beyond the primaries, Trump also leads current President Joe Biden in general election polls in some battleground states from late November to early December. The hypothetical 2020 rematch by CNN/SSRS Polls shows that Trump has a 10 percent lead over Biden in Michigan and 5 percent over Georgia.
Both states turning blue in 2020, from red in 2016, were key to Biden's Electoral College victory over Trump and are critical for both to win in 2024.
Notably, Trump's lead in Michigan is fueled by many people saying they did not vote in the 2020 election.
Despite an early surge in the polls after the first few Republican presidential primaries, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is failing to gain enough momentum in Iowa, with just 5 percent support in the latest results from Iowa.
Trump heads into the caucuses in five weeks with a huge advantage after crushing the still-thinning Republican primary field in every national and state poll
Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old millionaire and father of two, will do the “full Grassley” twice by visiting all 99 counties in Iowa before the Caucasus.
DeSantis completed the feat, named after Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, earlier this month.
In October, DeSantis and Haley were tied at 16 percent, but the Florida governor has gained 3 percentage points to displace her in second place with 19 percent.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is in fifth place with 4 percent and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is in sixth place with 1 percent. Both former governors are the most anti-Trump candidates in the race.
Christie has challenged Trump at every debate so far, but Hutchinson only qualified for the first debate in Milwaukee this summer.
While the Republican National Committee (RNC) has decided to stop hosting debates after holding four that Trump did not attend from August through December.
But CNN is doing its best to host a Republican primary debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, just six days before the caucuses. The network will also host a debate in New Hampshire ahead of the election there.
Trump is still unlikely to attend the debates, claiming the showdowns are beneath him as he maintains a huge lead over the rest of the still-thinning field.