# Trump can't get more than 50% in the Ignorantowa **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 16, 2024, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163 "2024-01-16T12:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/21 "2024-01-16T17:32:32Z")
I’m not sure I understand the point OP is trying to make. Trump DID dominate the caucuses. It was the biggest margin of victory in an Iowa GOP caucus in history. And almost every one of those caucusers (is that a word?) who stood for DeSantis or Haley will fall in line behind him in the general election. There’s nothing about this outcome to suggest that he’s in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/22 "2024-01-16T17:53:00Z")
If Democrats had held a caucus and President Biden received barely above 50% of the vote all the pundits would say it was time for him to drop out. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/23 "2024-01-16T17:53:15Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > > [@Atamasama](#): > > > > These are not very sophisticated people. > > Simple farmers. People of the land. The common clay of the new West. I greatly admire your restraint. That made your quote sooo much more impactful. Well played, Good Sir. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/24 "2024-01-16T17:56:53Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > I’m not sure I understand the point OP is trying to make. Trump DID dominate the caucuses. It was the biggest margin of victory in an Iowa GOP caucus in history. And almost every one of those caucusers (is that a word?) who stood for DeSantis or Haley will fall in line behind him in the general election. There’s nothing about this outcome to suggest that he’s in trouble. Agreed. This is the expected outcome. trump did not underperform. To be sure the fact caucuses are dominated by small numbers of enthusiasts and the weather was horrendous could have driven the results well off-script. But it did not. Or there were offsetting effects. Answering “why?” questions is always the hardest when we’re speaking of mass human behavior. There is never just one “why”. If anything, trump _over_-performed versus what any sane accounting of sane Republicans would have done. Which merely serves to remind us all what an endangered species “sane Republicans” have become. They may in fact be extinct in many parts of their former natural range. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/25 "2024-01-16T18:08:12Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > I find it a bit puzzling why fundementalists seem to like Trump so much? > I don’t think he explicitly presents himself as such (though of course he is very careful to NOT offend that demographic)… He’s the messiah. No, seriously. > **[Trump shares bizarre Biblical video saying God made him to be America’s...](https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iowa-caucuses-video-god-b2478729.html)** > > Republican gives full vent to messiah complex on eve of Iowa caucuses > **[A New Religion Just Appeared: Trump Is Officially Considered A Messiah](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocppyFCJJhg%2F)** > > Become a youtube member: https://owenmorgan.com/telltale-membershipGet my book (Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses): https://owenmorgan.com/bookEmail list: ht... The book being talked about in the video: > **[President Donald J. Trump, The Son of Man - The Christ: Müller, Helgard:...](https://www.amazon.com/President-Donald-Trump-Son-Man/dp/1977249752)** > > President Donald J. Trump, The Son of Man - The Christ \[Müller, Helgard\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. President Donald J. Trump, The Son of Man - The Christ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/26 "2024-01-16T18:28:02Z")
If our country really is that religion-besotted, we deserve to learn, as the Iranians have, what happens when you actually let religion run your country for 50 years. Once the Iranians finally do push their evil theocracy out, it’ll be a century or three before they make that mistake again. If they ever do. Gonna suck around here meanwhile, but stupid people need hard lessons. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/27 "2024-01-16T19:06:58Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > The book being talked about in the video: Am I bad for hoping he gets nailed to a plank? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/28 "2024-01-16T19:33:33Z")
Minor nitpick: many historians say that Jesus Christ _was_ a person of color, but that color was most assuredly _not_ orange. As you were. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/29 "2024-01-16T19:40:54Z")
Trump won 98 out of 99 counties. He lost by one vote in the 99th. He won up to 70% of the vote in more rural counties. That’s losing? Looking closer, the voters Haley did get were the more educated; almost none of her voters were less educated. How do we know this? Because reporters also report on polls. I have no clue on what @Tripolar wants them to report on. There are no policies in this race and if there were they’d have nothing to report on after the first day because the candidates just repeat their stump speech every day. The polls are extremely important precisely because they break the voters down into their subgroupings. Do more educated voters tend to reject Trump? Seems so, and that’s a possible way to Biden to appeal to them to break some pieces off his vote. Are suburban moms still a solid base for Biden? Well, Haley did much better in suburban counties, so maybe Biden’s campaign can pour money into those nationally. Does Iowa mean anything at all? That’s the real question. Trump basically ignored it except for a few stops. Turnout was less than 60% of 2016. Everybody knew that Trump was going to destroy the competition, and the weather outside was frightful. Less than 3% of the state’s population turned out. They are representative of not much in particular other than a worship of Trump. If you want a prediction out of Iowa, here’s a fascinating one. The last three times there has been a competitive race, i.e. 2016, 2012, 2008, the winner didn’t even become the Republican nominee, let alone win the election. Maybe history will hold. Or we could wait until after some trials, with, hopefully, convictions. The real election won’t start until then. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/30 "2024-01-16T19:43:25Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > I don’t think he explicitly presents himself as such (though of course he is very careful to NOT offend that demographic) He has more than once gone out of his way to act like they expect a christian to act. Remember during the riots, when all he could think to do was go down to that church and hold up a bible for a photo-op? There was no point to that other than trying to look like one of them. And we’ve seen multiple examples of religious people “laying hands” on him, which he would only tolerate if he were going out of his way to pander to them. I don’t think for a second that he actually believes any of the things the evangelicals say they believe, but he is absolutely trying to make _them_ think he does. ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/31 "2024-01-16T21:49:19Z")
A Threads comment was about the “blowout” in Iowa being 2-3% of the eligible voters in the state showing up to caucus. I guess they needed less of the popcorn buckets for the slips of paper. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/32 "2024-01-16T22:19:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Most of the talking heads are spouting off about how Trump dominated the Iowa caucuses. Right in heart of the overwhelmingly ‘white’ Christian conservative evangelical state of ignorance he could only get 50% of the voters in a caucus. Yep, only 51%, which isnt great at all. > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > As for Haley voters, a lot of them were Democrats who came to the caucus and (you can do this on caucus day) changed their party, possibly temporarily, to influence the national conversation. Due to the bad weather, I really doubt this. Got a cite? > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Does Iowa mean anything at all? That’s the real question. Trump basically ignored it except for a few stops. Turnout was less than 60% of 2016. Not really, even for the Dems. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/33 "2024-01-16T23:06:24Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > > As for Haley voters, a lot of them were Democrats who came to the caucus and (you can do this on caucus day) changed their party, possibly temporarily, to influence the national conversation. > > Due to the bad weather, I really doubt this. Got a cite? A cite for how many re-registered in-person at the caucuses? Can’t find it. This is the sort of story I read before: [Axios](https://www.axios.com/2024/01/14/democrats-boost-haley-iowa-trump-desantis): > [@](#): > > Some Iowa Democrats and independents are planning to crash the state’s Republican caucuses Monday night and become “Republicans for a day” to vote for Nikki Haley — but mostly, against former President Trump [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/us/politics/nikki-haley-democrats-independents.html?unlocked_article_code=1.OE0.qwZz.eeOOXJGgO6SJ&smid=url-share): > [@](#): > > Ms. Haley has attracted the interest of non-Republicans who say they’ll caucus for her I could say that the weather is why Haley came in third – Democrats who wanted to go a GOP caucus on a lark were deterred by cold. But that would be an evidence-free claim. Given that, by my calculation, only 3.4 percent of Iowa residents attended yesterday’s caucuses, it’s amazing the polling was at all close. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/34 "2024-01-16T23:31:37Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Remember during the riots, when all he could think to do was go down to that church and hold up a bible for a photo-op? You mean, when he used weapons prohibited by the Geneva convention against a church? The right wing has been complaining about a War on Religion for so long that they’ve forgotten what the real thing looks like. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/35 "2024-01-16T23:41:09Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yep, only 51%, which isnt great at all. My first thought was to argue with “isn’t great at all.” But then I checked what seemed the closest modern comparable, Nixon in 1968. As a reminder, Nixon was defeated by Kennedy in November 1960, and did not run in 1964. Then when Nixon ran again, in 1968, most states did not yet have primaries or Iowa-style caucuses. But [in the first 1968 primary, New Hampshire, Nixon got 78 percent against his most prominent opponent, Nelson Rockefeller. After that](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries), in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Nixon won with 77 percent and 60 percent respectively. So, yes, Trump’s victory, while solid for a historical loser, was other than great. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/36 "2024-01-16T23:54:30Z")
I feel I must say theres nothing wrong with “simple farmers.” They’re decent people. Its Trump supporters who are “indecent.” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/37 "2024-01-17T00:12:18Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > I feel I must say theres nothing wrong with “simple farmers.” They’re decent people. It was a truncated movie quote, from _Blazing Saddles_. > [@Jim](#): > > “You’ve got to remember that these are just _simple farmers_. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.” ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/38 "2024-01-17T00:13:30Z")
I still need to watch that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/39 "2024-01-17T00:19:17Z")
Whhhhaaaaat? Someone remains who has not seen _Blazing Saddles_? That’s crazy talk. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163/40 "2024-01-17T00:27:10Z")
And Gene Wilder apparently ad-libbed the last three words of the quote. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-cant-get-more-than-50-in-the-ignorantowa/996163.md?page=3)