Despite Visits from 2020 Dem Hopefuls, GOP & Trump Win Iowa's 'Cast Your Kernel' Poll
By at least one measure, President Donald Trump is looking pretty good in Iowa as he heads toward his 2020 re-election bid.
Trump nearly beat all Democratic comers combined in the Iowa State Fair’s “Cast Your Kernel” poll, despite not attending the event.
The survey is conducted by fair-goers casting a corn kernel in the bottle of the candidate they are supporting for president.
Des Moines NBC affiliate WHO-TV reported on Monday with all voting finished, Trump had amassed 32,375 corn kernels.
His only other declared Republican rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, received just 905 kernels.
at the Iowa State Fair, a corn kernel poll tracks candidate popularity. President Donald Trump’s jar is doing extremely well pic.twitter.com/WV1hMIdkSM
— Graham Ambrose (@Grahambrose) August 17, 2019
Meanwhile, the highest tally on the Democratic side was former Vice President Joe Biden, who garnered 8,143 or 25 percent of the kernels cast.
He was followed by South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 5,892 kernels, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts with 5,064 kernels, Sen. Kamala Harris of Massachusetts with 3,700 kernels, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont with 2,675 kernels.
The president’s son Eric Trump told “Fox & Friends” last week that the media only shows the Democratic candidates, “but they won’t show the one on the red podium, which is Trump’s, which is literally full to the top and overflowing.”
All told 33,280 kernels were cast for Republican candidates, while 33,165 were cast for Democrats.
According to WHO-TV, the overall participation was the third highest in “Cast Your Kernel” poll history.
The highest was 2012, when 72,216 voted. Republican Mitt Romney beat President Barack Obama 55-45 percent.
In 2016, 69,598 people cast their kernels, with Trump topping Democrat Hillary Clinton 56-44 percent.
Trump went on to carry the Hawkeye State by just under 10 percentage points during the November 2016 general election.
USA Today reported that over 20 Democratic presidential hopefuls showed up at the Iowa State Fair over the course of just one weekend earlier this month.
Trump’s showing is particularly impressive, given it is an off-year election poll, and the Democrats are the ones interfacing with voters.
Also keep in mind, the president’s strong showing comes as he is in the middle of a trade dispute with China, which is impacting many of Iowa’s farmers.
If Trump can button up some trade deals related to farmers, Iowa is looking to be a solid win for the 45th president in November 2020.
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