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Though Trump leads on most issues in Iowa Poll, Harris gains ground on abortion, unity
(Des Moines, Iowa) – The most recent Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows that while Vice President Kamala Harris has made a significant dent in former President Donald Trump’s lead in Iowa ahead of the 2024 presidential election, more Iowans still favor Trump on issues like inflation, immigration and U.S. international relations. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports Iowa Poll results published Tuesday (Sept. 17) found 58% of likely voters responded that they believe Trump would do a better job than Harris on “keeping America secure,” and 50% responded they believed he would do better on “bringing about real change” than Harris at 46%. Trump was also favored by a percentage point over Harris as the better candidate on “winning the respect of world leaders” and “caring about people like you.”
Harris was chosen as the better candidate by 47% of poll respondents on “being more trustworthy” than Trump, and 46% of likely voters said they believed the vice president would do a better job of “successfully unifying the country.” Trump was the choice of 45% on trustworthiness and 39% on unifying the country.
The poll also found a majority of likely Iowa voters believe Trump would do a better job than Harris on the issues of inflation, immigration, relations with China, the wars between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas, as well as on housing prices. The only issue Iowa voters favored Harris on in the most recent poll was abortion, with 53% saying Harris would do a better job and 42% supporting Trump as the best choice to tackle the issue.
The largest margin between the candidates was on inflation, with 57% choosing Trump as the better candidate for addressing the issue compared to 41% for Harris. Though the poll found that the former president still has a lead in his race against Harris, J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co. that conducted the poll, said “the race has tightened significantly.” Part of the shift comes from increased engagement in the election, with 81% of Iowa poll takers saying they will definitely vote in the general election, an increase from 76% in June. Compared to the last poll, there was a 10 percentage point increase in Iowans younger than age 45 who said they were likely voters, and an 8-point increase among women voters — both demographics that the poll identified as more likely to support Harris.
The results seem to reflect what some Iowa Democratic leaders have predicted about Harris’ impact on the race. But Republican leaders disputed the poll results showing a positive shift for Democrats ahead of the Nov. 5 election. The Iowa Poll was conducted from Sept. 8-11 with 811 Iowans — 656 who identified as likely voters. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points with likely voters, and a 3.4 percentage points margin of error for questions asked of all Iowans.
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