Former President Donald Trump secured a landslide victory in the Iowa Republican caucuses on Monday night, capturing every single county, save one.
Exit polling from the big win — which was the strongest performance in the caucuses’ near 50-year history — shows the former president’s dominance on a more granular level. In nearly every demographic or issue, Trump polled as the far and away favorite, usually by double-digits.
Trump won caucusgoers without a college degree by double-digits, at 62%; and had similar results with those who consider themselves very conservative (58%) and rural voters (58%), according to Fox News.
The former president also decisively took white evangelical caucusgoers with 55%, which more than doubled the next two closest GOP candidates, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (24%) and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (13%).
When it comes to issues at the top of caucusgoers’ minds, Trump again was in control. The top issue was polled to be immigration, and Trump won those most concerned about it by 36 points. He also was the favorite for those worried about the economy by 33 points. And for those who valued a strong leader with sufficient mental capabilities, Trump won by 28 points.
Even when it came to legal challenges, which Trump is battling in numerous states, caucusgoers were largely unfazed by the indictments and overwhelmingly viewed them as political attacks against Trump. Only 20% said Trump was legitimately being investigated for potential wrongdoing, while 80% chalked it up to partisan attacks, the Fox polling revealed.
“Roughly 2 in 10 (15%) felt he did something illegal regarding the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in his alleged attempt to interfere with the vote count in the 2020 election (19%) or the classified documents found in his Florida home (21%),” the report noted.
Moreover, about six in ten caucusgoers felt President Joe Biden was not elected legitimately and Trump won in 2020.
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Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro on Monday night sounded off on Trump’s resounding victory, calling the former president the Republican Party’s “de facto nominee,” The Daily Wire reported.
“Donald Trump is so far out ahead that the rest of the field can’t even see him,” Shapiro stated. “This is Secretariat against the rest of the field in the 1973 Belmont Stakes.”
“It means that, de facto, Trump is the nominee,” he continued. “If no one can challenge him in Iowa, if nobody really has a chance of challenging him based on the momentum going into New Hampshire, if nobody has a challenge for him in South Carolina, then all you can say at this point is that he is preparing for the general election against Joe Biden.”
Related: Ben Shapiro Reveals His Takeaway From Iowa Caucuses