Nikki Haley Moves Into Second In Final Iowa Poll, Trump Still Reigns

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Nikki Haley rose into second place in a final Iowa poll while former President Donald Trump’s support among likely caucus-goers still makes him the overwhelming favorite to win the GOP’s first presidential nominating contest on Monday.

The poll reinforced Trump’s projected strength in Iowa, while also underscoring Haley’s slow consolidation of the GOP field and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stagnation despite investing the bulk of his resources here. Trump was the polling leader at 48%, with Haley at 20% and DeSantis slipping into third place at 16%.

Haley was up 4 percentage points from December’s Iowa poll, underscoring her momentum in the race following five GOP debates. Both Trump and DeSantis, meanwhile, were down 3 points during the same period.

“I think Joe Biden is an idiot and she exposed all of the flaws in their mentality,” said Glen Schwab, a 61-year-old from Davenport, Iowa, who is committed to caucusing for Haley and came to hear her speak at an event in Davenport Saturday despite blizzard conditions that made many Iowa roads nearly impassable. “I just want Joe Biden out of office … I think she can bring Americans together again,” he said.

“She just seems very moderate. She’s very pragmatic. She didn’t grow up wanting to be a politician. She’s just somebody that wants to go help solve problems,” Iowa Sen. Chris Cournoyer, one of Haley’s endorsers, told HuffPost.

The pollster, however, cautioned that Haley’s support was “on shaky ground” due to her smaller share of enthusiastic voters than Trump, the Des Moines Register reported . Roughly half of the people who plan to caucus for Trump say they’re “extremely” enthusiastic about doing so, while that percentage is only at 9% for Haley.

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