Iowa caucus goes ‘its own way’ when candidates appeal to ‘evangelical Christian base’

The Iowa GOP caucus has a reputation of “going its own way” with candidates who successfully appeal to the “evangelical Christian base”, according to Seattle University Associate Professor of American Politics Dr Patrick Schoettmer. Iowa Republicans will be the first to vote for a presidential candidate in the 2024 US election on January 16. Former US president Donald Trump is heavily favoured to win, holding a 34-point lead, according to a Fox Business poll. According to the poll of Iowa GOP caucus-goers, Mr Trump is polling at 52 per cent, Ron DeSantis at 18 per cent, Nikki Haley at 16 per cent, Vivek Ramaswamy is at seven per cent and Chris Christie is at three per cent. “Iowa has a reputation of going its own way, in particular, candidates who do a good job of appealing to the evangelical Christian base tend to outperform expectations in the state,” Dr Schoettmer told Sky News Australia. “I think that is what the DeSantis campaign has been banking on since it launched last year.”