"A Humbler Donald Trump Pleads With Iowans: 'I'm Not Leaving'"

Unit: Public Culture

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/10/28/a-humbler-donald-trump-pleads-with-iowans-im-not-leaving/?ref=topics&_r=0

Synopsis: In this article, Trip Gabriel documents one infamous competitor in the search for the next Republican presidential candidate. Beloved by the media for his popularity with the general public, Trump disseminates his political and social ideologies by being blunt and brash in order to create simplicity. According to recent polling, Trump has lost his lead in the state of Iowa. After leading the poll for Republican candidacy in the state for the last few months, being reduced to second place made Iowa the next necessary state to visit on his campaign trail. Encompassing a majority of evangelical voters, mainly women, the popular candidate was shifting to Ben Carson over Trump. He decided to visit again though his political campaign heads advised him to "cut his losses". He promised to work really hard, and that he "loved them all", although needling his haters and encouraging his supporters at the same time. Arguing with the recent data has turned to bargaining as Trump asked Iowans to stick with their decisions. Not singling out Carson's Seventh-day Adventist faith proved to be a smart decision in a state like Iowa where personal religion is not to be criticized. He ended his campaign outreaches and talks in Iowa with the following: "Now if I lose Iowa, I will never speak to you people again".

Analysis: Considering the different ways to use data represented through polling, in this instance Trump feels like losing first place deserves a fight to regain that number-one place in the Republican rankings. In terms of political ideology, the stereotypical Iowan citizen agrees with many of the conservative views of Trump. According to Gabriel, Trump has the resource of a grassroots-program advocate in Iowa for encouraging Republican political socialization. This strategist claims that Trump might still be able to win in Iowa, since he has been leading in all the past polls. Yet the past history shows that no candidate who has lost a lead in the polls in both the last two cycles has won the final candidacy. But does Trump really have the resources and time to personalize his political message to urge a percentage of Iowan voters back to his side? It is advised to spend valuable campaign time winning voters on the mid-line between important issues who are able to be swayed. Perhaps Trump is taking this drop in the polling too personally, and this pride and shame of humility might prove to lose him other votes in states where he could have influenced voters in order to win by a majority.