What the Iowa Caucuses tell us is that, despite Trump's being an incumbent for all intents and purposes, NEARLY HALF of the most die-hard Republicans, those literally willing to brave sub-zero temperatures, were willing to support someone OTHER THAN Trump, openly, in front of their friends and neighbors, despite what must have been fear of retaliation or even physical violence.
The Iowa Caucuses are structured like ranked choice voting, so this shows that supporters of DeSantis and Haley clearly would rather back each others' candidates than Trump.
This does not bode well for Trump.
Notes: Trump's performance should be compared with incumbents, in which case these results were dreadful and should be covered as so.
Former President results:
Reagan ran unopposed in 1984.
George H.W. Bush ran unopposed in 1992.
Bill Clinton got 98% in 1996.
George W. Bush ran unopposed in 2004.
Obama ran unopposed in 2012.
Trump got 97% in 2020.
This year he got 51%.
In 1980, Jimmy Carter had a serious opponent in Ted Kennedy, but still got 59%.
Right on, Antonia! Plus only 15% of voters went out into the cold. And the threat of retaliation from the Faux Trump supporters hasn’t been mentioned by the pundits. They talk about the possible violence but teally don’t give it much credence. If any person throws their meal plates across the room, they would probably get psychological care. That type of behavior ought to disqualify him alone.
Although I did enjoy all the coverage my old high school in Ottumwa, Iowa got on MSNBC.