By Maria Curi
After spending most of the last several election cycles as a blue state, Donald Trump turned Iowa red once again, winning a whopping 93 of the battleground state’s 99 counties.
Republican and Democratic political leaders as well as voters across Iowa said the state went red because of discontent with establishment politics and populism.
Jeff Kaufmann, the chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, said Trump’s appeal to populism — the belief that power should be in the hands of regular people, not a wealthy political elite — is why Republican Iowans rallied behind him.
“Our history of Republicans in this state is one of populism, is one of change,” Kaufmann said. “What Donald Trump has done is bring us back to our roots. I think that’s what’s brought us all together — the idea that people need to be heard.”
Christopher Peters, the 2016 Republican candidate for U.S House of Representatives in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, said Trump appealed to voters in Iowa the same way Sen. Bernie Sanders did: by providing a change to establishment politics, or what Hillary Clinton embodied for many.
“He has a broad base of support, particularly in the working class as well as a lot of independent voters,” Peters said. “It’s the same way Bernie Sanders appealed beyond the Democratic base.”
Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, said Iowans gravitated toward Trump because they felt they didn’t have the same economic opportunities they had before.
“He really did speak to the angst and the anger that a lot of folks have — and legitimately have — and that’s why we have to commune to deepen the economic recovery,” Loebsack said. “They’ve been thrown out of work. They have jobs that aren’t as good as the jobs that they had before, and that’s something I hear from the people all the time.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in September, the unemployment rate in Iowa was 4.2 percent, one of the lowest in the country. New Hampshire and South Dakota have the lowest unemployment rate at 2.9 percent, and Alaska has the highest at 6.9 percent. Out of 50 states, Iowa ranks 16th in unemployment.
Looking over the crowd at the Iowa GOP Election Night watch party in Des Moines on Tuesday, Kaufmann spoke against the claim that uneducated people are voting for Trump in Iowa and nationally.
“We listen to the people, and we respond to the people,” Kaufmann said. “And I know there are a lot of tears going on in the ivory towers of the universities, but guess what? The people also have the intelligence in this state.”
According to the Pew Research Center, Trump had the largest margin in exit polls among whites without a college degree than any candidate since 1980. He secured two-thirds, or 67 percent, of non-college whites, while 28 percent supported Clinton.
Three out of the six counties Clinton won in Iowa were home to the state’s three universities: the University of Iowa, Iowa State University in Story County, and the University of Northern Iowa in Black Hawk County.
According to the Coalition of Higher Education in Iowa, Iowa’s percentage of the population with a bachelor’s degree or higher is 25.3 percent, one of the lowest in the country.
Despite the data, Republicans and Democrats alike agreed Iowans supported Trump because they felt disenfranchised in what they feel is a corrupt political system.
Rod Sullivan, the chairman of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, said the undertones of misogyny in Trump’s language resonated with people who are anti-female president and also pointed to racism, but, he said, ultimately, it was the feeling of being left behind that led Iowans to vote for Trump.
“First and foremost a lot of people feel left behind,” Sullivan said. “Working-class people can’t find jobs, and they don’t feel heard.”