‘The Former President Needs to Win Really Big in Iowa’: Susan Ferrechio on the 2024 Republican Race

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
Scott: “Susan, I said a moment ago the numbers are fascinating in Iowa. Nikki Haley seems to be on something of a role, but of course, the 800-pound gorilla right now is the former president. How do you see this race?”
FERRECHIO: “The former president needs to win really big in Iowa so that when he goes into New Hampshire, he can stay well ahead of Nikki Haley, who, as you guys are reporting, is having a real last-minute surge in Iowa and is already solidly in second place in New Hampshire. She is in a position to overtake DeSantis, who has thrown everything into Iowa, all of his money, all his campaign energy, everything. If he does not do well, if it is not over-perform in the current polls and get closer to the president, than he is showing and has been showing in the polls. It’s hard to see where he goes from Iowa. All kinds of important results will come out of there. Yes, the present is had by 35 points. It’s hard to see him losing. But he wants to have a majority of caucus voters. If he doesn’t, people may say he’s underperforming. It may look — may somehow weaken him ahead of New Hampshire, so he is looking for a really big win, and now, of course, you have the weather. When it is freezing cold in Iowa and the weather is really bad, the real diehard voters come out for that. Already the caucuses about diehard voters. It’s mostly evangelical voters. Say you get people who come out who are really just there for DeSantis because he may have a big chunk of the evangelical vote. He goes to the right on the president on abortion, so he could overperform and surprise us. And finally there is Vivek Ramaswamy who is pulling in fourth place with about 7%. His campaign team tells me that his supporters are being under-polled because they think they will register on the same day at the caucuses. A lot of young voters, a lot of people who are not necessarily going to vote for Trump but like his message, and of course, Vivek Ramaswamy has run on the president’s agenda but said that he would be more ably better at delivering it in 2024. So, if he surprises and peels away some of the Trump votes, Trump could come in under 50%. That would be pretty much the big surprise coming out of Iowa. It’s hard to see an upset. It’s hard to see anybody beating the president, but all the second and third-tier candidates here have something to offer here that may make the outcome really interesting heading into New Hampshire.”