Nikki Haley romped to a clear second-place win in Iowa’s few college towns but performed poorly outside the state’s prosperous cities.
In Johnson County, for example, Haley scored 34 percent, just two percent behind Donald Trump’s 36 percent. The county is home to the University of Iowa.
She scored 30 percent in Story County, which is home to Iowa State University. Her support was only a few points behind Trump’s 34 percent win in the county.
In Polk County, which covers the city of Des Moines, Haley scored 27 percent compared to Trump’s 38 percent. Des Moines University straddles the border with adjacent Dallas County, where she also scored 27 percent.
The college-town vote likely reflects Haley’s self-branding as a moderate — but not voters’ support for her pro-investor economic promises.
For example, she has repeatedly told donors and supporters that she will allow Fortune 500 companies to import many foreign graduates to take the jobs and salaries that would otherwise go to the U.S. graduates who voted for her on Monday night. Her approach to migration is portrayed as “moderate” by many of the D.C. journalists covering the races.
The Wall Street Journal polled 1,600 voters before the caucus and showed Haley beating Trump by 38 percent to 27 percent among the one in ten voters with a postgraduate degree. But she lost by 29 percent to 37 percent among the one-in-four voters who have earned a college degree.
His greatest support — 38 percent — came from college towns where one in ten voters lived. She scored only ten percent in the small towns where 44 percent of voters live.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
She also won a 37 percent share of the one-in-ten who said they were “getting ahead” economically. But she got only ten percent among the one in three who said they were “falling behind.”
She also scored 50 percent among the one-in-five voters who said they would not vote for Trump in November.
The Washington Post polled 1,577 people as they entered the caucus sites.
The survey showed Haley getting only a ten percent bump among women — 22 percent versus 20 percent among men. But she got 30 percent of the college-grad votes versus just ten percent of those without college degrees.
She scored 47 percent among the few — one in eight — who said foreign policy is their top priority. But she won just one of seven of the 34 percent who said immigration is their top priority.
She also did well — 37 percent — among people who support legal abortions. She got 54 percent among the one in three who said President Joe Biden won legitimately in 2020.
She also won 36 percent of the vote from the one in two Iowans who say they are not part of the “MAGA” movement.
