Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad predicted Thursday that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump would lose his state’s caucuses, despite the billionaire developer’s continued perch atop the polls there.
“I think it will change between now and February 1. I have a lot of confidence in the Iowa voters in making that decision,” Branstad told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day.”
Trump trailed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the most recent Monmouth University survey of Iowa Republicans 24%-19%, but a CNN/ORC poll released the same day found Trump still dominating the field with 33% support.
Branstad, a powerful figure in Iowa Republican politics who is not publicly backing any GOP candidate, chose to focus on the former poll.
“He’s already fallen behind Cruz in Iowa,” Branstad said. “The other thing is it’s all about turnout. Who’s going to show up? And if you think of what happened four years ago, the lead changed hands several times and the person who ended up winning wasn’t ahead until the last week.”
In 2012, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum narrowly won the Iowa caucus, after trailing eventual nominee Mitt Romney in polls.