OPINION | Eight Iowa caucus voters talk about Donald Trump, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis

The Iowa Republican presidential caucuses are just days away, but contrary to the usual expectations, Iowa voters aren’t expecting any surprises, and they’re feeling a little frustrated about it. “It looks like we have a front-runner who can’t lose,” said Caleb, 27, who participated in a recent Times Opinion focus group of Iowa voters scheduled to attend the Republican caucuses Monday night. .

The front-runner, of course, is Donald Trump, with a roughly 30-point lead in Iowa polls and an even larger lead in some national polls. We wanted to use this month’s focus group as an opportunity to hear what Iowa Republican voters think about him, his race, and the country in general.

Nancy, a 69-year-old retiree, said: “I would pray and hope that Trump would look more like the Trump of old than the Trump of today.” Her distinction between “old Trump” and “new Trump” focuses on complaints about him that we overheard during our conversation. While many right-wing voters support his cause and like much of what he has done as president, they have expressed their frustration at being treated unfairly since January 6, 2021. I’m getting tired of his increasing focus on pleading. “I feel like all I hear right now is against him. It’s all just legal issues. I don’t hear much about what he’s going to do.” said Britney, a 38-year-old author.

Still, some participants felt that the many criminal charges filed against Trump only increased their sympathy for him. “I don’t think it will hurt his ability to win the nomination at all. We asked eight participants whether a conviction would prevent them from voting for the former president, and four said they would. Ta.

If Trump faced criticism, there were also harsh words for his main rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who have been campaigning across Iowa for months. Some focus group participants liked Haley’s foreign policy presentation and her experience, but were critical of her domestic policy (or what they felt was lacking). ). Some people liked DeSantis’ policies but weren’t fans of him himself. Although the participants were by no means supporters of President Biden, only half said they were confident that the eventual Republican nominee would win the White House in November.