Iowa Poll July 20th
Iowa Poll July 20th
Iowa Poll July 20th
Released:
Monday, July 20, 2015
Contact:
PATRICK MURRAY
732-979-6769 (cell); 732-263-5858 (office)
[email protected]
FollowonTwitter:@PollsterPatrick
Tea Party Walker leads Trump 27% to 14% among Tea Party supporters, with Ted
Cruz in coming third at 12%. Among non-supporters of the Tea Party, Walker has a
nominal lead (18%), followed by Trump (11%), Bush (11%), and Carson (9%).
Ideology Very conservative voters line up behind Walker (22%), Trump (14%) and
Cruz (12%) as their top picks. Somewhat conservative voters back Walker (23%),
followed by Trump (12%), Carson (10%), and Bush (10%). Moderate to liberal voters
choose Walker (19%), Bush (15%), Trump (10%), Rubio (10%), and Carson (10%) as
their top tier.
Evangelicals Evangelical voters favor Walker (17%), Trump (13%), Cruz (10%),
Carson (10%), and Huckabee (9%). Non-evangelical voters prefer Walker (26%), Trump
(12%), and Bush (10%).
Gender Walker and Trump take the top two spots with both male (24% and 16%,
respectively) and female (19% and 10%) caucusgoers.
Age Walker (25%) is the clear favorite among voters age 50 and older, followed by
Trump (13%) and Carson (9%). Voters under 50 years old spread their support among
Walker (13%), Paul (13%), Trump (12%), Cruz (10%), and Rubio (10%).
Trumps statement about John McCains status as a war hero, made Saturday morning at the
Family Leadership Summit in Ames, IA, generated almost universal backlash from his rivals but does not
seem to have had an immediate impact on his support among Hawkeye State Republicans. In interviews
conducted Thursday and Friday, Trump garnered 13% of the vote to 19% for Walker. This is only
slightly different than results from the Saturday and Sunday interviews, which put Trump at 13% to 25%
for Walker.
Walker has been a favorite of Iowa voters ever since his well-received appearance at the Iowa
Freedom summit in January. More recently, Trump has outmaneuvered the rest of the field to earn the
second spot despite his controversial statements over the weekend, said Patrick Murray, director of the
independent Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ. Its worth noting that
Bobby Jindal enjoys more support in Iowa than he does nationally. He is among the top ten candidates in
Iowa, but his showing in the national polls makes it unlikely he will gain entry to the first debate.
Looking at the fundamental strengths of the candidates, Iowa voters hold an almost universally
positive opinion of Scott Walker. He holds a 73% favorable to just 9% unfavorable rating among likely
caucusgoers. This +64 point net positive rating is more than double the +31 rating (42% favorable to
11% unfavorable) he received from Republicans across the country in last weeks national Monmouth
University Poll (bit.ly/1K1hXYi). He is also significantly better known in Iowa where fewer than 1-in-5
Republican voters have no opinion of him compared to nearly half nationwide.
Donald Trump holds a positive 47% favorable to 35% unfavorable rating, which is better than the
40% favorable to 41% unfavorable rating he received from national Republicans last week. He has
higher favorable ratings among very conservative caucusgoers (55%) than he does among somewhat
conservative (41%) and moderate to liberal (37%) Iowa Republicans. He also has higher favorability
ratings among Tea Party supporters (56%) compared to non-supporters (39%) and among men (51%)
compared to women (41%).
Other candidates who have significantly better ratings among Republicans in Iowa than they do
nationally are Marco Rubio (64% favorable to 14% unfavorable), Ben Carson (63% to 11%), Rick Perry
(61% to 18%), Bobby Jindal (59% to 12%), and Carly Fiorina (44% to 10%). Carson and Jindal are also
better known in Iowa than nationally. One candidate who garners worse ratings in Iowa is Jeb Bush
Hawkeye State Republicans give him a negative 40% favorable to 42% unfavorable rating compared to
the positive 50% to 30% national rating he earned in last weeks Monmouth University Poll.
The rest of the field earns similar net ratings from both Iowa caucusgoers and national
Republican voters. The Iowa results for candidates with a net positive rating are: Mike Huckabee (58%
favorable to 23% unfavorable), Ted Cruz (53% to 17%), Rick Santorum (50% to 27%), Rand Paul (42%
to 32%), and John Kasich (24% to 17%). The Iowa results for candidates with a net negative rating are:
Chris Christie (26% favorable to 51% unfavorable), Lindsey Graham (18% to 41%), George Pataki (10%
to 36%), and Jim Gilmore (4% to 17%).
Rick Santorum is much better known in the state he won back in 2012, but his net personal
rating in Iowa is no different than his standing nationally, said Murray. One of the reasons why
candidates like Santorum and Huckabee are not doing as well this time around is that GOP voters are less
concerned with social issues than they were in past contests.
DATA TABLES
The questions referred to in this release are as follows:
(* Some columns may not add to 100% due to rounding.)
1. Who would you support if the presidential caucus was being held today and the candidates for
the Republican nomination were [NAMES WERE ROTATED]
2. And who would be your second choice?
Jeb Bush
Ben Carson
Chris Christie
Ted Cruz
Carly Fiorina
Jim Gilmore
Lindsey Graham
Mike Huckabee
Bobby Jindal
John Kasich
George Pataki
Rand Paul
Rick Perry
Marco Rubio
Rick Santorum
Donald Trump
Scott Walker
(VOL) No one
(VOL) Undecided
FIRST
CHOICE
SECOND
CHOICE
7%
8%
1%
7%
3%
0%
0%
6%
4%
2%
<1%
5%
3%
5%
3%
13%
22%
0%
11%
6%
6%
2%
7%
3%
<1%
<1%
5%
8%
1%
<1%
4%
5%
9%
3%
9%
13%
4%
15%
3. Im going to read you a few names of people who are running for president in 2016. Please
tell me if your general impression of each is favorable or unfavorable, or if you dont really
have an opinion. [NAMES WERE ROTATED]
Favorable
Unfavorable
No opinion
40%
42%
18%
63%
11%
26%
26%
51%
23%
53%
17%
29%
44%
10%
46%
4%
17%
79%
18%
41%
41%
58%
23%
19%
59%
12%
29%
24%
17%
59%
10%
36%
55%
42%
32%
26%
61%
18%
21%
64%
14%
22%
50%
27%
24%
47%
35%
18%
73%
9%
18%
4. Do you think the number of candidates who are currently running for the Republican
nomination is good for the party, is bad for the party, or does it have no impact?
TOTAL
32%
38%
26%
3%
5. Which of the following issues is the most important to you in deciding who to support for the
Republican nomination? [ITEMS WERE ROTATED]
6. And which is the second most important?
FIRST
CHOICE
SECOND
CHOICE
Combined
1st and 2nd
12%
16%
28%
18%
22%
17%
30%
38%
45%
11%
10%
21%
18%
4%
10%
2%
1%
15%
4%
0%
2%
1%
33%
8%
n/a
n/a
n/a
Immigration
The economy
National security
Social issues like abortion and
same-sex marriage
Taxes and government spending
Education and the Common Core
(VOL) All equally important
(VOL) Other
(VOL) Dont know
7. How willing would you be to support a candidate you dont fully agree with on the issues in
order to nominate someone who would have the best shot at winning the White House
very willing, somewhat willing, not too willing, or not at all willing?
TOTAL
Very willing
Somewhat willing
Not too willing
Not at all willing
(VOL) No need to choose
(VOL) Dont know
28%
42%
14%
14%
0%
3%
The Monmouth University Poll was sponsored and conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute from July 16 to
19, 2015 with a statewide random sample of 452 Iowa voters drawn from a list of registered Republican voters who voted in at
least one of the last two state primary elections and indicate they are likely to attend the Republican presidential caucuses in
February 2016. This includes 315 contacted by a live interviewer on a landline telephone and 137 contacted by a live
interviewer on a cell phone, in English. Monmouth is responsible for all aspects of the survey design, data weighting and
analysis. Final sample is weighted for age and gender based on state registration list information on the pool of voters who
participate in primary elections. Data collection support provided by Braun Research (field) and Aristotle (voter list). For
results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling has a maximum
margin of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points (unadjusted for sample design). Sampling error can be larger for sub-groups
(see table below). In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in
conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.
54% Male
46% Female
Unweighted N
moe
GENDER
MARGIN OF ERROR
TEA PARTY
SUPPORTER
LIKELY
CAUCUSGOER
Male
Female
Yes
No
452
4.6%
248
6.2%
204
6.9%
201
6.9%
241
6.3 %
###
POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
Very
cons.
204
6.9%
Somewhat
cons.
178
7.4%
Mod/
Lib
65
12.2%
EVANGELICAL
Yes
No
216
6.7%
227
6.5%