AP/edited
03/14/23
As former president Donald Trump returned to Iowa on Monday, he intensified his attacks against his chief Republican rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
From the stage of the Adler Theatre in downtown Davenport, Trump likened DeSantis to Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a frequent punching bag for the Make America Great Again movement. Trump also charged that DeSantis voted against Medicare and Social Security while a congressman, calling him “a disciple of Paul Ryan, who was a RINO loser.”
And after talking up his record in a self-described education policy speech that barely mentioned education, he took several unscripted questions from voters — a common practice for traditional presidential contenders in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, but something the former president has rarely done.
Early polls show Trump remains widely popular among Iowa Republicans, though views of the former president have slipped somewhat since he left the White House. Now, 80% say they have a favorable rating of Trump, down slightly from 91% in September 2021, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll released Friday.