Nearly two-thirds of Iowa Republicans say President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election was not legitimate, according to Monday’s entrance polls ahead of the state’s caucuses.
Around 66 percent of Iowa caucusgoers say they believe Biden’s win in the last election was illegitimate, while 29 percent say it was legitimate, according to the polls. Despite the numbers, allegations of voter fraud have been widely disproven.
Sixty-nine percent of those who doubted the legitimacy of Biden’s 2020 victory also supported former President Trump on Monday, per the polls.
Among those caucusgoers who said the president was legitimately in the White House, 53 percent of respondents supported former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley — including most of those who described themselves as “moderate” or “liberal.”
Roughly 20 percent supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who emerged in second place after Iowa’s caucus, according to election data from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ.
The former president’s various legal battles — from four criminal indictments to his civil cases — also didn’t seem to have much of an effect on his loyal base during the caucuses, which kickstarted primary voting season.
Two-thirds of the caucusgoers said they would still consider Trump fit for the role, even if convicted of a crime, per the survey. Roughly one-third of them did not agree, with nearly half backing Haley.
The Associated Press’s VoteCast survey reflected a similar sentiment among caucusgoers, with much enthusiasm surrounding the former president. Most Iowans, about 7 in 10, said they knew all along that they would support him on Monday.
By the end of the night, Trump had won a historic 51 percent of support in Iowa, getting 20 delegates, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had 21.2 percent support and earned 8 delegates, and Haley earned 19.1 percent with 7 delegates. Trump also had a significant lead in far stretches of the state.
Following his dismal polling numbers, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy opted to suspend his campaign and endorse the former president.
Trump won 98 of Iowa’s 99 counties, with only Johnson County siding with Haley, by a margin of one vote.
The entrance polls were conducted Monday across the Hawkeye State by Edison Research among 1,628 caucusgoers randomly selected as they entered to vote.
Updated at 10:13 a.m.