Former President Donald Trump heads to Iowa this Saturday for the first time since the 2020 presidential election with an all-time high in favorability ratings in the first-in-the-nation caucus state as he openly flirts with a White House bid, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll.
The survey comes as President Joe Biden’s approval numbers continue to dip following a chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal critics call an embarrassing botch job, a dramatic surge in migrants crossing the nation’s southern border, and another surge in COVID-19 infections.
Fifty-three percent of Iowans have a favorable view of Trump, while 45 percent disapprove. Two percent have no opinion. Trump is viewed favorably by 91 percent of Republicans, 73 percent of self-identified evangelicals and 68 percent of rural voters. Sixty-one percent of men view Trump favorably, but 52 percent of women see him in an unfavorable light.
Independents are split, with 48 percent viewing him favorably and 49 percent having an unfavorable view.
Trump, who will hold a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, has hinted over the past few months that he will run against Biden in 2024. He carried the state by 8 percentage points in 2020 and 9.4 percentage points in 2016. And this week, he declared he would defeat one of the highest-visibility politicians being discussed as a potential challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The declaration further fueled speculation that Trump is poised to jump into the race and try to recapture the White House he lost to Biden last year.
Biden’s approval rating in the poll stands at 31 percent in Iowa, with 62 percent of adults disapproving of the job he is doing.
A poll published last week by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 50 percent of likely voters approve of Biden, while 49 percent disapprove.
Fifty-four percent approved in August, and 59% did in July. The results come as Americans process the harried and deadly evacuation from Afghanistan, mounted border patrol agents charging at Haitian refugees, the unshakable threat of the coronavirus with its delta variant and the legislative drama of Biden trying to negotiate his economic, infrastructure and tax policies through Congress.
The Des Moines Register-Mediacom Iowa Poll surveyed 805 Iowa adults from Sept. 12 to 15 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
