CNN’s senior data reporter Harry Enten said Thursday that former President Donald Trump has the “strongest” poll numbers in the “history” of the Iowa caucus.
Trump is currently leading the republican candidates in both New Hampshire and Iowa at 46% and 51% respectively, according to RealClearPolitics. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is trailing Trump by 24.8% and 16% in both states respectively.
“Harry, look I think we’re going to start with — if you’re looking at Iowa — we all try and talk about, okay, what is the map? How do you get through this race if you’re a Republican? Let’s talk about Iowa and the lead that Donald Trump has, which is enormous,” host Phil Mattingly said. (RELATED: ‘No, That’s Actually Not True’: Harris Faulkner Disputes Nikki Haley’s Claim To Her Face)
“It’s an enormous lead!” Enten exclaimed. “I’m gonna show the trend line for the Des Moines Register poll which is the premier poll in that state. And what you essentially see here is Donald Trump has only gotten stronger. He was at 43% in October. Look where he is now. More than a majority, more than 50%, a majority at 51%. And you see Ron DeSantis within the margin of error where he was in October. Look at Nikki Haley, she’s stable. This is an over 30-point advantage with Trump getting a majority of the vote. And I want to put this in a historic context for you. Just how large Trump’s lead is. These are folks who polled at 45% or greater in Iowa at this point. All before Trump won the caucuses. Mondale in ’84, Bush in 2000, Gore in 2000, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and now we see Trump in 2024. I would note, in fact, Trump is the only one to actually be at greater than 50% of the vote. The rest of these folks were at 50% of the vote or lower. Trump is the strongest frontrunner in Iowa in polling history.”
“History?” Mattingly asked.
“History.”
Enten then threw cold water on presidential hopeful Nikki Haley who told voters in New Hampshire that “Iowa starts it…you correct it.”
Enten said Haley’s claim was “sort of not exactly right” as far as historical data shows, noting that Bob Dole and George W. Bush both won Iowa, lost New Hampshire, and still had the Republican Party nomination in 1996 and 2000 respectively.