Trump vs Harris: Iowa Poll 2024 shows the presidential race tightening
A new Iowa Poll reveals Donald Trump leading Kamala Harris by 4 points, a significant improvement from President Biden’s previous 18-point deficit.
An Iowa state co-chair of former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign is throwing her support behind Vice President Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House, joining the ranks of Republicans nationwide backing the Democratic presidential nominee over Donald Trump.
Dawn Roberts, who considers herself a lifelong Republican, wrote in a Des Moines Register guest column published Friday that she was supporting Harris as president after Harris showed at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that she “had the ability to unite her party immediately.”
Harris allowed those with a range of views from her own party, the Republican Party and former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to participate in the convention, Roberts wrote, which “reinforced the skills she has to work with domestic and world leaders in representing our country and keeping our military strong.”
Opinion: I co-chaired Nikki Haley’s Iowa campaign. I am endorsing Kamala Harris.
Harris also has said she would consider tapping a Republican to serve in her cabinet.
“All of these statements lead me to believe that she truly has the skills needed to bring us together as a country and, hopefully, the world,” Roberts wrote. “I heard her articulate that she has always brought groups of diverse individuals and opinions together to solve problems. That is a healthier and wiser way to lead.”
Harris’ debate performance against Trump also impressed Roberts, who described Harris as “looking at the audience and emphasizing bringing the country together rather than dividing, lifting people up rather than tearing people down.”
Roberts wrote that both major parties “let us down” by advancing two candidates in or near their 80s. Biden, 81, ended his reelection campaign after a disastrous June debate performance against Trump that sparked concerns over his age.
Trump, 78, is the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history with Biden’s exit from the race.
Who are Nikki Haley’s other Iowa campaign co-chairs endorsing?
State Rep. Austin Harris of Moulton, the first Iowa elected official to endorse Haley, told the Register he is maintaining his support for Trump as he “made a pledge to my constituents that I was going to support whoever the nominee was” for the Republican Party.
Harris said Trump’s policies are more in line with what Haley supporters wish she would have been able to implement if elected president. Specifically, he favored Trump’s positions on securing the southern border and reducing inflation to bring down the price of everyday items like gas and groceries.
“I respect Dawn’s position and her opinion, but I certainly would encourage everyone a part of the Nikki Haley team and everyone who fared the weather to go out and caucus for Nikki Haley to support Donald Trump this fall,” Harris said.
The Register requested comment from Haley’s other Iowa campaign co-chairs including Emily Sukup-Schmitt, general counsel for Sukup Manufacturing; Bill Mackey, a former campaign manager for Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn who’s working on former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers’ U.S. Senate campaign; and state Sen. Chris Cournoyer.
The other co-chairs did not respond or comment to Register on their endorsements.
Mackey serves as political director for Rogers’ Trump-endorsed campaign.
Cournoyer has not posted specifically about Trump but shared a Clinton County Republicans Facebook post about picking up yard signs to show support for Trump and running Mate JD Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio.
Other Republicans breaking with their party over Trump as nominee
Roberts’ support for Harris puts her among other Republicans around the U.S. who have backed Harris for president.
More than 100 former national security officials who served in Republican administrations and former GOP members of Congress Harris in a public letter released Wednesday, deeming Trump “unfit to serve again as president.”
“We expect to disagree with Kamala Harris on many domestic and foreign policy issues, but we believe that she possesses the essential qualities to serve as President and Donald Trump does not,” the officials wrote in the letter.
More than 200 Republicans who previously worked for three GOP presidential nominees — former President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., or Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah — endorsed Harris in an open letter shared with USA Today in August.
At least five former aides to former President George H.W. Bush also signed the letter.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, also have endorsed Harris.
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @marissajpayne.
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Publish date : 2024-09-20 09:33:00
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