Trump runaway favorite in Iowa poll of likely Republican caucusgoers

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump leads comfortably in a poll of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers, whose results were released on Monday.

A new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows that 42 percent of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers would support Trump as president in 2024, compared with 19 percent for his closest challenger, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

In third place is Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina with 9 percent. Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Trump's Vice President Mike Pence both are at 6 percent. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is at 5 percent, followed by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with 4 percent.

Seven other candidates are polling at 2 percent or lower.

The first-in-the-nation caucuses will take place in Iowa on Jan. 15, 2024.

The Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll of 406 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted between Aug. 13 and 17, with a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.