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In Iowa, many back Trump over other GOP candidates

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. (AP Photo/Bryon Houlgrave)

(NewsNation) — It’s nearly one month until the Iowa caucuses, and even with multiple GOP presidential candidates in the running, former President Donald Trump seems to be keeping his hold on the state.

NewsNation spoke to a number of Iowa voters Wednesday morning at a local diner, who had a variety of views on the upcoming election. But one name that continued to come up over and over again was Trump — despite him being the candidate that has visited the Hawkeye State the least out of any other candidates.

It’s actually biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who has been to Iowa the most out of all the candidates over the last six months. Although Ramaswamy even rented an apartment in Iowa, it’s done little for his polling numbers.

Meanwhile, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remain in a heated competition for second place. DeSantis, though, has been dwindling back in the polls, despite spending the most money in Iowa.

Iowa voters, speaking to NewsNation political editor Chris Stirewalt, said they haven’t seen DeSantis or other candidates really distinguish themselves from frontrunner Trump.

“With him and Vivek, it’s like if Trump is so amazing and so awesome, why are you in the race? Why are you running?” One voter asked. “If you’re in the race, you’re in the race because you think you could do a better job than Trump, so you have to talk about Trump.”

While the race seems to be between Trump and current President Joe Biden for most of the people NewsNation talked to, others said they didn’t want to talk politics so close to the holiday season. For them, they said, it’s Christmas before the caucuses.