79% of Iowa Republicans say they would vote for a candidate OTHER than Trump – as he skips another debate and recovers from brutal fraud ruling

Republicans in Iowa are torn over whether Donald Trump should be the GOP candidate for president, a new poll shows.

The CBS/YouGov survey showed 79 per cent of voters would vote for a candidate other than the former president.

Twenty per cent of voters say they are only considering Trump, while 48 per cent are choosing between the former president and other candidates.

Meanwhile 31 per cent are not considering casting their ballot for him, leaving 79 per cent open or committed to voting for a candidate other than the favorite.

But the same poll, taken between September 15 and 24, also found members saw Trump as ahead of the pack in the Hawkeye State.

79 percent of Iowa Republicans say they would vote for a candidate other than Trump

79 percent of Iowa Republicans say they would vote for a candidate other than Trump

 

In New Hampshire, 23 percent of voters are committed to to backing Trump, while 43 percent are keeping their options open and 34 percent are only considering candidates other than Trump, the poll found.

Despite the numbers, Trump still holds a significant lead over his competition when  voters were asked who they would vote for if the election was held today.

In Iowa, Trump would have the support of 51 percent of Republicans, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in second place at 21 percent and U.S. Ambassador and United Nations Nikki Haley third at 8 percent.

In New Hampshire, Trump leads at 50 percent, DeSantis at 30 percent and Haley at 11 percent.

The poll is based on representative samples of 1,011 registered voters in Iowa and 943 in New Hampshire. 

The samples were weighted according to gender, age, race, education, and geographic region based on the U.S. Census Current Population Survey, as well as past vote.

Of those surveyed 62 percent of Republicans in Iowa and 53 percent of GOP voters in New Hampshire identified the debates as a ‘major factor’ in helping them choose someone to back.

Trump, the early Republican presidential front-runner who skipped the first debate, will also be missing from the stage of the second debate in California – instead holding an event in the battleground state of Michigan

The field for the second Republican presidential debate will be smaller than the first.

Seven candidates qualified for Wednesday night’s debate at Ronald Reagan’s presidential library in California, the Republican National Committee said, confirming that former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson did not make the cut this time

The debate comes after Judge Arthur Engoron issued a blistering summary judgment decision that Donald Trump and his company engaged in fraud

Seven candidates qualified for Wednesday night’s debate at Ronald Reagan’s presidential library in California, the Republican National Committee said, confirming that former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson did not make the cut this time.

To qualify for the second debate, candidates needed at least 3 percent support in two national polls or 3 percent in one national poll as well as two polls from four of the early-voting states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

The White House hopefuls also needed at least 50,000 unique donors, with at least 200 of those coming from 20 states or territories. 

They also had to sign an RNC pledge promising to support the party’s eventual nominee.

As the debate got underway, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie attacked Trump for skipping the debate

As the debate got underway, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie attacked Trump for skipping the debate.

Citing a comment from Mike Pence who blamed politicians like Vivek Ramaswamy for dysfunction in the GOP, Univision’s Ilia Calderón asked Christie ‘If the government shuts down, should voters blame populist Republicans?’

‘Everybody who’s in Washington DC, they get sent down there to do the job and they’ve been failing at doing the job for a very long time,’ Christie replied. 

He faulted the Biden administration and the Trump administration for increasing the national debt and, in turn, increasing inflation. 

He then went on to criticize Joe Biden for hiding ‘in his basement’, while Donald Trump ‘hides behind the walls of his golf clubs.’

‘He should be in this room to answer those questions for the people you talked about who are suffering,’ said Christie, one of the few open Trump critics onstage.

The debate comes after Judge Arthur Engoron issued a blistering summary judgment decision that Donald Trump and his company engaged in fraud.

Engoron ruled that Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House, after prosecutors charged he inflated property valuations with lenders and diminished them with tax authorities.

In reaction, the former president took to Truth Social to say it was ‘a very sad day for the New York State System of Justice.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12569021/Trump-Iowa-79-percent-Republican-candidate-debate.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 79% of Iowa Republicans say they would vote for a candidate OTHER than Trump – as he skips another debate and recovers from brutal fraud ruling

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