The pot continues to stir in the Republican party ahead of the Iowa caucus, with former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis looking like the favorites to win over voters.
Former President Trump is expected to make his appearance in the state on Monday, along with the only other major Republican to announce a bid for the party’s nominee, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
DeSantis appeared in the state last Friday as he is touring the country promoting his new book. Those close to him have noted that he is leaning towards running for the Republican nominee, but will only make his decision after the Florida legislative session ends.
The caucus also kicks off with some in the Republican party taking shots at former President Trump, either directly or indirectly.
Among those to speak out include former acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli, who recently said that DeSantis was the “strongest” choice for Republicans in 2024.
“He is just head and shoulders above the rest of the field in that respect, so this isn’t negative to anybody else. It’s just a recognition of how good Governor DeSantis is,” Cuccinelli told Fox News last week.
Cuccinelli shared his support for DeSantis in the interview, and while he was once a senior official for Trump, he now seems to be fully onboard with his former boss’s main challenger.
“The energy is there, grassroots conservatives see the governor as a leader and a fighter with a winning conservative track record who will lead the Republican Party to victory in 2024,” Cuccinelli said in a statement last week.
Despite the Florida Governor not officially announcing he is running, DeSantis remains neck-and-neck with Trump in most polls, including one conducted in Iowa by the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa.
Among those polled, 80% said they view Trump “very” or “most” favorably, while 75% reported the same for DeSantis.
However, the poll also noted that the support for Trump has steadily declined throughout the last year plus, with the percentage of Iowa Republicans who would “definitely” vote for him in 2024 falling by more than 20 percentage points since June 2021.
This also comes as Trump is facing legal trouble, which some, like former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), say could become a “distraction” for the former president, especially if he is indicted.
Hutchinson shared his thoughts during an interview with USA Today, in which he said Trump should withdraw his bid if the Manhattan district attorney presses charges.
“That’s a distraction that is difficult to run for the highest office in the land under those circumstances,” he argued.
Hutchinson continued saying that he knows Trump is “going to say that they’re politically motivated and all of those things, but the fact is, there’s just a lot of turmoil out there with the number of investigations going on.”
When it comes to how voters feel about the former president seeking a second term and third Republican nominee, support isn’t as forthcoming as it was in 2016 and 2020.
“It’s an open field,” influential Iowa Republican Bob Vander Plaats told CBS News. “There’s a lot of Republicans who really liked what President Trump did, and the Trump administration did, but there’s a real pause. Is he the right one to carry the baton in 2024? Has America made up their mind about the former president?”
However, while Vander Plaats noted that “a lot of people” seem ready to “turn the page” on Trump, he did share that if the election were held today, then he thinks “President Trump would win.”
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