The Kool-Aid continues to flow, as Donald Trump's popularity surges to an all-time high of 51% in the latest Iowa poll — the largest lead ever recorded in the poll's history at this point in the race, according to NBC News.
Former President Donald Trump has expanded his lead over his GOP rivals with five weeks until the first Republican presidential nominating contest, now earning 51% first-choice support from likely Iowa caucusgoers, according to the latest NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll.
Trump's lead — the largest recorded so close to a competitive Republican caucus in this Iowa poll's history — is fueled by majorities of evangelical and first-time likely caucusgoers, as well as by nearly three-quarters of Republicans who believe Trump can defeat President Joe Biden next year despite the legal challenges the former president faces.
According to the poll — which was conducted after a burst of campaign activity in Iowa and more GOP presidential candidates suspending their campaigns — Trump gets first-choice support from 51% of likely Republican caucusgoers, while DeSantis gets 19% and Haley gets 16%. (The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.)
They're followed by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 5% and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 4%. …
Finally, the poll finds a whopping 73% of likely caucusgoers believing Trump can win a general election against President Joe Biden despite the legal challenges Trump is facing — up from 65% who said this in October.
"With all the other candidates, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what they say, it doesn't matter what they do. Because automatically, my vote is going to Trump no matter what," said one typical 67-year-old devotee. "They can promise me a million dollars, I tell them to keep it. And I would still vote for Trump."
