Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
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Terry Branstad
Former Gov. Terry Branstad leads the field in the Republican gubernatorial primary, besting his closest rival by 15 percentage points, according to a new poll by North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling.
The survey, which included 474 likely Iowa Republican primary voters and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent, found that if the primary election were held today, Branstad would beat Bob Vander Plaats 46 percent to 31 percent. Rod Roberts finished a distant third with only 13 percent.
Branstad even leads Vander Plaats among so-called “conservative” voters 41 percent to 35 percent. Among “moderates,” his lead expands to a 58-19 advantage.
From Public Policy Polling:
Among voters that actually know who Vander Plaats is — whether they see him favorably or unfavorably — he leads Branstad 42-37. The question is if there’s enough time left for Vander Plaats to completely make up the huge gap in name recognition he began the campaign with. Seventy-nine percent of voters have an opinion of Branstad, with it breaking down positively by a 59/20 margin. Meanwhile only 66 percent have an opinion of Vander Plaats with 47 percent seeing him favorably to 19 percent unfavorably.
There are very clear age divisions in the race. It’s tied among voters under 45, who may not even remember Branstad’s time as Governor. But he’s up 55-20 with senior citizens, who are certainly likely to remember his tenure, and that’s fueling most of his overall victory.
Vander Plaats recently launched two TV ads, his first of the campaign. The first focused his attacks on incumbent Gov. Chet Culver, the second took aim at Culver and Branstad.
Coming only a week before voters head out to vote, the PPP poll is the first real look at the GOP primary. All previous polls have measured each candidates strength against Culver.
The poll also looked at the Democratic Senate primary. See full results below.
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