Republicans battle cold in Iowa with big poll setting the tone
By Nathan Layne, Gabriella Borter and Tim Reid
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) — A highly anticipated poll set the tone for a final full day of campaigning in ice-cold Iowa on Sunday, with Donald Trump maintaining a big lead and Nikki Haley overtaking Ron DeSantis for second place in the Republican presidential race.
The Des Moines Register/NBC News poll released late on Saturday gave Trump 48%, though his lead slipped by 3 percentage points from the December poll. Former South Carolina Governor Haley was second at 20%, up 4 points, followed by Florida Governor DeSantis with 16%, down 3 points.
Organizers of the poll pride themselves on taking an accurate snapshot of the mood of Iowa voters.
The survey provided a strong indication that Trump was poised to do well in Monday's caucuses, the first voting contest on the road to the presidential election in November.
A victory would give Trump, 77, an important big step toward securing the Republican nomination to face the Democratic incumbent, Joe Biden, 81, in a rematch of their 2020 battle. It would be evidence that many Republicans are willing to look past Trump's mounting legal problems and inflammatory rhetoric.
Trump plans a Sunday rally in Indianola, a suburb of the capital Des Moines, but the weather forced him to cancel one in the city of Cherokee. The former president canceled two events on Saturday, appearing in the evening on a campaign livestream.
«We are leading by a lot in all the polls and you have to get out,» Trump told his supporters. «We need to send a message most importantly for November.»
DeSantis and Haley, who was Trump's U.N. ambassador, both need to do well enough in Iowa to give them some momentum for the next contest, in New Hampshire on Jan. 23.
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