“We really thought about skipping this whole election,” Bill Gorius said. After looking at the entire field, they’ll both be caucus captains for Haley. “We just wanted to go to bed at night and wake up in the morning and feel proud of who was sent to the White House.”
Other Democrats and independents at a Haley caucus-eve event in Adel Sunday night said they’re considering the same. A combination of Haley’s brand of more traditional GOP politics, a noncompetitive Democratic presidential field, and a strong desire to stop Trump from a second term is sending the unexpected coalition her way in Iowa.
Although Haley has not criticized Trump extensively in her campaign, she told the group in Adel that “chaos follows him, you know that.”
“You can’t be a country in disarray and have a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos,” she said.
The final Des Moines Register/ NBC News poll before the caucus showed Haley consolidating the anti-Trump vote. Trump led the poll of likely caucusgoers with 48% of the vote, compared to 20% for Haley.
But of those who said they’ll caucus for her, 43 percent said they would vote for President Joe Biden over Trump in November if Trump is the Republican nominee. Just 23% of Haley voters said they’d vote for Trump.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz has been in Iowa observing the field and was in the audience for Haley’s event in Adel. He said her broader appeal is evident. “She’s got by far the widest variety of voters of any of the candidates, rock-ribbed conservatives, old-fashioned Reaganites, and independent women.”
Add in Democrats, and Luntz said that sets Haley up for a potential second-place finish in Iowa and a win in New Hampshire ahead of the crucial South Carolina primary. “Things in motion tend to stay in motion,” Luntz said. And she’s going up.”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Tia Mitchell, columnist Patricia Murphy and photographer Hyosub Shin are braving the cold in Iowa to cover the Republican caucuses. Follow their coverage on AJC.com/politics, and follow them on X: Mitchell at @ajconwashington, Murphy at @MurphyAJC and Shin at @ilovefoto
