INDIANOLA, Iowa—When the Iowa caucus results come in Monday night, Donald Trump could be thanking the evangelical conservatives who detested him in 2016—and now worship him in 2024—for crowning him with a historic margin of victory.
But there’s another constituency in the state that may also be key to handing Trump his third consecutive GOP nomination and a potential second term.
Ever since Trump came to rule the Republican Party, suburbanites have been among the most MAGA-skeptical demographics, coming out to vote in increasingly strong numbers and helping Democrats in multiple elections.
Nikki Haley is currently banking on her suburban appeal to break into Trump’s commanding lead, just as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) used those voters to propel him to his strongest early state finish in 2016. (Haley was actually one of Rubio’s key backers in that ill-fated campaign, and on Sunday Rubio repaid that favor by endorsing Trump.)
But Trump may actually be making inroads with these suburban voters, at least in Iowa. And that could be a very bad sign for his GOP competition—and should give some pause to President Joe Biden and Democrats.
Across a frozen Iowa over the weekend, there were plenty of signs that suburban voters could soon go the way of their rural counterparts. And Trump’s allies had their theories as to why.
Ahead of Trump’s rally on Sunday in Indianola, a suburban college town about 20 miles south of Des Moines, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) told The Daily Beast that Trump is poised to do better in Iowa’s suburbs because of the former president’s focus on crime and border security.
Gov-Politics
Legal
