Almost half of Haley supporters say they would vote for Biden over Trump: Iowa poll

Just under half of likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers who support former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley indicated that they would make a crossover to the Democratic party, saying that they would rather vote for President Biden over former President Trump.

A new NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll released just one day before the Iowa caucuses found that 43 percent of Haley backers in the state said they would vote for Biden if Trump is the GOP nominee, while 23 percent say they would vote for the former president. Eight percent said they would vote for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Overall, 71 percent of likely GOP caucusgoers said they would vote for Trump in 2024, while only 11 percent said they would vote for Biden.

“Haley is consolidating the anti-Trump vote,” J. Ann Selzer, a pollster who has conducted the Iowa survey over the last three decades, told NBC. “She does well with the people who define themselves as anti-Trump.”

The poll also explored likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers’ view of Trump’s legal challenges. Overall, 74 percent said Trump can win a general election despite his legal challenges, while 23 percent said it’s nearly impossible for him to win against Biden. Among Haley’s supporters, 54 percent said the former president wouldn’t be able to win, while 42 percent said they believe he could.

The NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll was conducted Jan. 7-12 with 705 likely Republican Iowa caucusgoers. The poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.