\n\u201cLogic would have suggested that the way the challengers were going to make a better showing\u00a0would be\u00a0to bring new people in,\u201d said veteran Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer, who conducted the survey. \u201cAnd it appears from these data that did not happen to the degree that Trump brought new people in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s early-state director Alex Latcham said in a phone interview that Trump\u2019s strength among first-time caucusgoers reflects his popularity Iowa more broadly, noting that Trump has \u201cfundamentally transformed the nature of this state.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Iowa twice supported former Democratic President Barack Obama before flipping to Trump in 2016 and 2020. Trump ran up his margins in rural areas and brought more blue-collar\u00a0voters to the GOP in Iowa and across the country, thanks in part to a populist message and hardline stances on issues like immigration. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at everybody, but he\u2019s my only choice,\u201d Jamila Jones, who is planning to caucus for the first time because she\u2019s concerned about the southern border and human trafficking, said in a recent interview with NBC News. \u201c\u00a0<\/p>\n
The hard part\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Trump campaign officials stressed they are not relying solely on first-time voters to secure a victory. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re prioritizing turning everybody out, whether they\u2019re a Trump supporter, a first-time caucusgoer,\u201d Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said at the campaign\u2019s Iowa headquarters in Urbandale on Saturday as volunteers worked the phones at tables around him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But first-timers could boost Trump\u2019s potential margin of victory as he has called for a decisive win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking to set\u00a0records,\u201d Trump told supporters during a tele-rally Friday night, according to audio of the rally obtained by NBC News. If recent polling is any indication of Monday night\u2019s results, Trump could break the GOP\u2019s 13-point record for a caucus victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gary Leffler, a precinct captain for the Trump campaign in West Des Moines who was at Trump\u2019s headquarters on Saturday, said turning out first-timers is \u201can insurance policy.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
For campaigns, that insurance policy can be expensive and time consuming. <\/p>\n
First-time caucusgoers are less likely to turn out, with just 37% saying they will definitely caucus in the new NBC News\/Des Moines Register\/Mediacom poll. Overall, 55% of likely caucusgoers say they will definitely attend a caucus. Among first-time caucusgoers who support Trump, 38% say they will definitely caucus. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it requires is a lot of information,\u201d said veteran Iowa Republican strategist David Kochel. \u201cIt\u2019s having them on an email list, a text list, a direct mail list so you can constantly be educating them on what the caucus process is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Trump campaign has made a concerted effort to target and turn out new caucusgoers. Precinct captains were tasked with getting at least 10 first-timers to commit to caucusing, and doing so could earn them a trip to the Republican National Convention\u00a0in July where they could meet Trump. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leffler, the Trump precinct captain, said he has secured his 10 Trump supporters and they told him, \u201cCome hell or high water, we\u2019re coming out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Trump campaign is also leveraging voter data collected at Trump events over the last several years, deploying a more organized operation than the 2016 campaign, when Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz defeated Trump in Iowa by 3 percentage points. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year, Trump rallygoers waiting in line for hours outside of the event space are greeted by multiple volunteers asking for their contact information and to sign \u201ccommit-to-caucus\u201d\u00a0cards. At Trump campaign headquarters on Saturday, two dozen stacks of those cards, each about a foot high, sat on a table at the side of the room. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump rallies also begin with videos explaining how to find a caucus location and how to participate, including one video\u00a0featuring a cartoon caucusgoer named Marlon. The pre-show programming often features panels with state leaders discussing the ins and outs of caucus night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all part of a strategy to demystify the caucus process,\u201d\u00a0Latcham, Trump\u2019s early-state director, said in a separate interview in December. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
First-time caucusgoer Josh Blegen, 44, of Blenton County received a text from the Trump campaign with the Marlon video, and he said in a phone interview that it helped him understand the process. As snow fell late Friday afternoon, Blegen was looking up his caucus site, and he was leaning towards supporting Trump. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Other candidates target first-timers\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Trump isn\u2019t the only candidate targeting first-time caucusgoers, who are more likely to be younger men with lower levels of education, per the NBC News\/Des Moines Register\/Mediacom poll. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ramaswamy believes new caucusgoers could help him \u201cshatter expectations\u201d in Iowa,\u00a0saying in a recent interview with the NBC News and the Des Moines Register that polling has \u201cbadly underestimating\u201d his support among that group. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Around half of attendees at Ramaswamy events are not registered Republicans, and the other half are split between traditional caucusgoers and registered Republicans who do not typically caucus, said Ramaswamy campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, citing data from commit-to-caucus cards and event RSVPs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that Vivek voters exist, but it means us having to drag them out,\u201d McLaughlin said, explaining that the campaign\u2019s decision to stop broadcast television ads was in part to shift resources to more targeted digital efforts aimed at first-time caucusgoers, pushing videos explaining the caucus on Instagram and TikTok. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Haley campaign spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement that Haley \u201cis reaching out and bringing in all kinds of voters, and her message for a strong and proud America is resonating. The Republican Party should be a story of addition, not\u00a0subtraction.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
DeSantis\u2019 campaign and allies are also looking to turn out newcomers. Never Back Down, the super PAC behind the pro-DeSantis turnout operation, is communicating \u201cnearly every day\u201d with DeSantis supporters and has \u201ctens of thousands of first-time caucusgoers on board\u201d to caucus for DeSantis, said Jess Szymanski, the group\u2019s spokesperson. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Bob Van Der Plaats, a prominent Iowa evangelical leader who has endorsed DeSantis, noted a robust turnout operation is crucial for turning out new caucusgoers. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s always a little sensitive about [their] first time doing anything,\u201d\u00a0Van Der Plaats said after addressing Never Back Down volunteers at the group\u2019s Urbandale headquarters on Saturday. \u201cThrow the weather in, it\u2018s a good excuse to stay home. So the big deal is \u2014 that\u2019s why organization matters. Get your people to the caucus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The frigid temperatures expected Monday night aren\u2019t going to stop Pinegar, the pro-Trump, first-time caucusgoer. As he spoke on the phone while plowing snow with his tractor, Pinegar said he would definitely show up on Monday night to support Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to go stand with him \u2014\u00a0and freeze, maybe,\u201d Pinegar said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[ad_2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[ad_1] DES MOINES, Iowa \u2014 Former President Donald Trump isn\u2019t just looking to win Iowa\u2019s GOP caucuses on Monday. He\u2019s looking for a big win. For that, he\u2019ll need supporters like Gene Pinegar to show up. \u00a0 Pinegar, a 72 year-old veteran from Marshall County, has never attended a Republican caucus before. A self-described independent, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21241"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2024-01\/240109-donald-trump-al-1128-3c180f.jpg\")
<\/p>\n