Iowa poll: Trump challengers face huge climb to stop him in first GOP contest

Former President Donald Trump starts out with more than a 20-point lead over nearest rival Ron DeSantis among likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers, according to the first 2024 NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll conducted by Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer. Trump’s early advantage in the first nominating contest — which proved to be […] Read more »

Trump’s big lead grows, as GOP voters dismiss indictments

Well, there’s no debate about this: Right now, the Republican Party would easily re-nominate Donald Trump for 2024. And it’s not close. The former president now holds his largest lead over his rivals in our polling amid his recent legal troubles. In fact, most of his voters cite those troubles […] Read more »

Republican voters think Trump is electable. They may be right

… Just seven years ago, both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton had unfavorable ratings north of 50%. It wasn’t the same majorities that disliked both candidates. Most voters liked at least one of them. But a sizable bloc of the electorate (18%) disliked both candidates, according to the 2016 exit […] Read more »

What to know going into the first GOP primary debate

While most Americans are yawning through the waning days of late August, the political world is buzzing with one indictment after another and now, next week, the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee. While eight candidates have qualified for the debate, the leading one—former President Donald Trump—may not show up. […] Read more »

American democracy is cracking. These forces help explain why.

In a country where the search for common ground is increasingly elusive, many Americans can agree on this: They believe the political system is broken and that it fails to represent them. They aren’t wrong. Faced with big and challenging problems — climate, immigration, inequality, guns, debt and deficits — […] Read more »