Front-running Trump faces high expectations, ignores his rivals in Iowa caucus test

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

74% : Beginning in 2017, she served for two years as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump.
65% : ********** Asa Hutchinson brought his "Asa's Normal Express" to Council Bluffs on a snowy night last week, with a message that he offers a return to political norms compared to Trump.
63% : When Donald Trump staged a MAGA rally in western Iowa a week ago, he spoke confidently of his "phenomenal" polling numbers and the "massive" victory he sees coming in Monday's Iowa caucuses.
63% : " Carter Lake resident Steve McAlpine, who was recently impressed by Ramaswamy on the stump, said the candidate is a kind of "Donald Trump lite." "He has a lot of the same ideas and qualities that made Donald Trump attractive," the 60-year-old said.
59% : "In this iteration of Trump, in 2016, it was a lot of 'America First,' " DeSantis said.
57% : " Here's a look at the campaigns of the top GOP contenders in the Hawkeye State, in order of their Saturday standing in the 538 website's composite of the leading polls: Trump 51%, Haley 17%, DeSantis 16%, Ramaswamy 7% and Hutchinson less than 1%.
56% : A charismatic 38-year-old billionaire, Ramaswamy has some things in common with Trump, and he often sounds like him, too.
54% : The backing of some wealthy donors, including a super PAC tied to billionaire Charles Koch, in recent weeks has given Haley more TV ad time in Iowa than any of the other candidates -- including Trump.
53% : " When Iowa Republicans gather Monday night for the nation's first-in-the-nation presidential test, there's little question that Trump will come out on top -- most likely bigly.
53% : Haley may go into Monday with more upward momentum than any of the contenders, having recently surged in both Iowa and New Hampshire polls -- within single digits of Trump in some Granite State surveys.
51% : ********** The fervent backing and loyalty Trump still engenders among his base has been evident at his rallies across Iowa.
48% : At the time registering less than 5% in Iowa polls, she has rallied to the high teens and into second in Iowa polling averages -- though still more than 30 points behind Trump.
47% : " ********** Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rose to national prominence over the last five years by enacting one of the most conservative agendas in the country: targeting LGBTQ issues in schools, barring public universities from spending on diversity, equity and inclusion, waging an "anti-woke" war against Disney and signing a strict abortion ban.
44% : "I think President Trump was the right president at the right time.
43% : " Trump last week said the bad weather forecasts might even prove to be to his advantage, believing he has the most committed caucus backers.
40% : As Trump pursues a White House comeback in 2024, his campaign believes a huge win in Iowa could cement his hold on the Republican Party, begin the process of rolling up his remaining GOP opponents and help secure a November rematch against President Joe Biden.
40% : "A vote for Donald Trump in these caucuses is a vote to secure our border," he said.
35% : " In addition to skipping debates, Trump, unlike his opponents, has not been crisscrossing the state to meet voters retail-style and take their questions, opting instead for his rallies.
34% : "If Trump gets less than 50% in Iowa, I think that signals he's weaker than everyone says he is." A weaker-than-expected performance from the front-runner would also put that much more focus on who finishes second to Trump in Iowa.
30% : After taking the stage that day, Trump delivered Wichers and other backers a rambling marathon speech running an hour and 45 minutes -- one in which he repeatedly aired his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
29% : Trump skipped the affair, as he shrewdly has all other debates in the campaign.
29% : And Christie -- the only GOP candidate who has aggressively opposed Trump -- that same day ended his campaign.
29% : Trump railed against the legal charges he faces related to his efforts to overturn the election and his handling of classified documents.
28% : The biggest challenge for DeSantis and Haley, Goldford said, is threading the needle between making a case for why Trump should not be the nominee without alienating the MAGA Republicans who make up a sizable, vital chunk of the party's base.
26% : " A 73-year-old who served eight years as Arkansas governor and formerly headed the Drug Enforcement Administration under President George W. Bush, Hutchinson also said he's the only Republican candidate who has not promised to pardon Trump should he get elected.
25% : "They're running against Trump.
23% : "To me, leadership is not about showmanship, it's not about entertainment," he said recently in Council Bluffs, alluding to Trump.
23% : Unlike Trump, he says, he's not out seeking retribution for perceived wrongs.
17% : " The biggest challenge to Trump right now may not be Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley -- his two closest pursuers -- but the high expectations those lofty poll numbers create.
16% : Due to that fear, the two candidates have been mostly muted in their direct criticisms of Trump.
15% : Like Trump, DeSantis vows as president to crack down on illegal immigration and ramp up oil and gas production.
13% : "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it," Trump tweeted then -- foreshadowing the false election claims he would make as president four years later.
11% : Polling suggests the battle for No. 2 right now is closely contested between Florida Gov. DeSantis and Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador under Trump.
6% : " Trump still follows no conventional political mores, at one point performing a comic imitation of Biden and referring to Biden, DeSantis and Haley by the degrading nicknames he's tagged them with.
3% : " Indeed, DeSantis and Haley mostly ignored Trump and fiercely went after each other in the final Iowa debate Wednesday night in Des Moines, each accusing the other of being a liar.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.