Bad News Republicans: Donald Trump’s More Popular In Iowa After He Attacked John McCain

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:08 pm

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The Republican Party’s attempts to stop Donald Trump are doing nothing in Iowa as the bigoted billionaire has seen his approval rating increase after his attack on John McCain.

According to a new Monmouth University poll of Iowa:

Trump’s statement about John McCain’s status as a war hero, made Saturday morning at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, IA, generated almost universal backlash from his rivals but does not seem to have had an immediate impact on his support among Hawkeye State Republicans. In interviews conducted Thursday and Friday, Trump garnered 13% of the vote to 19% for Walker. This is only slightly different than results from the Saturday and Sunday interviews, which put Trump at 13% to 25%
for Walker.

….

Donald Trump holds a positive 47% favorable to 35% unfavorable rating, which is better than the 40% favorable to 41% unfavorable rating he received from national Republicans last week. He has higher favorable ratings among very conservative caucusgoers (55%) than he does among somewhat conservative (41%) and moderate to liberal (37%) Iowa Republicans. He also has higher favorability ratings among Tea Party supporters (56%) compared to non-supporters (39%) and among men (51%) compared to women (41%).

In other words, the people who support Trump don’t like McCain and they are probably going to continue supporting the reality television personality no matter what the media and the Republican Party say.

Trump is playing into the Republican myth of the tough talker by refusing to apologize to McCain. Trump may be on a demented ego trip, but he is speaking the language of a segment of the Republican Party that abandoned reality years ago. The Republican plan to use his remarks about McCain to rid themselves of Donald Trump could be backfiring.

Republicans may have picked the wrong Senator to serve as their victim. McCain has long been distrusted and disliked by conservatives. John McCain is viewed in some corners of the political world as more a media creation than a beloved public figure. It could turn out that the right-wing is so crazy that attacking McCain could make Trump more popular.

If this is the case, Donald Trump may very well destroy the Republican Party.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association