- Sixty percent of Iowans say they feel exhausted thinking about November's presidential election.
- Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they are optimistic and excited about the November election.
- After fatigue, the emotion Democrats cited most frequently was fear.
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When Linda Cade watched television coverage of Donald Trump's recent hush-money trial, she quickly found herself disgusted by the way Democrats and prosecutors were pursuing the former president.
While watching cable TV, I also saw Hunter Biden's conviction on federal firearms charges, as well as instability overseas and chaos at the border.
She said policies coming out of the White House are too focused on “climate bullshit” and is outraged that Democratic President Joe Biden is seeking to forgive student loan debt, despite her own efforts to pay off her own student loans.
All of this left Cade exhausted.
“I just want it to be over so I can vote and so that we can get (Trump) elected,” she said.
A majority of Iowans across the political spectrum share a similar feeling: fatigue, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.
Sixty percent of respondents said they felt exhausted just thinking about the November presidential election, which will feature a rematch between the two most hated men in modern American politics, Trump and Biden.
Polls show fatigue is widespread across both parties.
Fifty-two percent of Republicans say thinking about the presidential election makes them feel exhausted, compared with 61% of Democrats and 65% of independents.
But Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they are optimistic and excited about the November election.
After fatigue, the emotion Democrats cited most frequently was fear.
Respondents to the Iowa poll were presented with a list of six emotions to describe how they felt about the 2024 presidential election: exhaustion was followed by optimism at 49%, fear at 42%, excitement at 31%, apathy at 27% and revenge at 8%.
Survey respondents were allowed to select as many words as they felt applied.
The poll of 806 Iowa adults was conducted June 9-14 by Selzer, Des Moines, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Most Iowa Republicans are optimistic, many are excited, but a few want revenge.
Despite his exhaustion, Cade said he felt excited and optimistic about the election and the possibility of Trump beating Biden in November.
“As long as it's a fair election, he's going to win,” said Atlantic poll respondent Cade, 75. “I have no doubt he'll win.”
The poll found that 62% of Republicans said they were optimistic about the presidential election, compared with 45% of Democrats and 39% of independents.
Similarly, 47% of Republicans said they were excited, compared with 26% of Democrats and 21% of independents.
Those sentiments are likely being intensified by a possible victory for Trump in Iowa, a state he also won in 2016 and 2020, where he leads Biden 50% to 32% among likely voters, according to the latest Iowa poll.
National polls also show Trump performing well in key battleground states that will likely play a much more important role in determining the election's outcome than Iowa.
However, 8% of Iowans are looking to the election for “revenge.”
This includes 12% of Republicans, 2% of Democrats, and 8% of independents.
“I just want revenge on Trump,” said poll respondent Seth Bartmess, 40, of Berwick. “I think he deserves a second chance.”
Bartmess said he is committed to President Trump's possible reelection and is looking forward to November.
“I think Trump is going to win. I really do,” he said. “I just think America is tired of Biden.”
Most Democrats go into the 2024 election with fear and fatigue
Poll respondent Loan Marcy, 20, from North Liberty, plans to vote for Biden but is heading into the election feeling tired and anxious.
“It's exhausting to basically hear the same thing over and over,” said Marcy, who is transgender. “'Hey, this bill is going through the courts to see if it passes, and guess what? It's going to take away your rights.' I've been hearing that for as long as I've been interested in politics. So it's really exhausting to hear the same thing over and over and over again.”
Murthy, a Democrat, doesn't like Trump but doesn't think Biden has done enough to reverse Trump's policies while in office.
He now said he plans to vote for Biden as the “lesser of two evils.”
Murthy is among 42% of Iowans who feel anxious about the 2024 presidential election, according to the Iowa poll, including 59% of Democrats, 45% of independents and 27% of Republicans.
Nationally, Biden narrowly beat Trump in 2020. But his approval rating has plummeted in Iowa and nationally since taking office.
Now Trump faces an uphill reelection battle, though he has positioned the race as a fight for the soul of the nation and its democracy.
Murthy said he plans to try to stay involved in politics at the state and local level, but not in the presidential election.
“It just seems like having a Democratic president isn't enough,” he said, “which is why I'm going to put more effort into local elections, put more effort into strengthening local power, because at the end of the day, that's probably going to protect my rights as an Iowan more than my rights as an American citizen.”
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief political reporter for the Des Moines Register. She is also the senior national elections reporter for USA Today, covering the 2024 presidential election. Contact her at:email address or 515-284-8244. Follow @brianneDMR on Twitter.
About the Iowa Poll
The Iowa Poll was conducted June 9-14, 2024 by Selzer & Company, Des Moines, for the Des Moines Register and Mediacom, and is based on telephone interviews with 806 Iowans age 18 and older. Quantel Research interviewers contacted randomly selected households using landline and mobile phone numbers provided by Dynata. Interviews were conducted in English. Responses were adjusted by age, sex and precinct to reflect the general population based on recent American Community Survey estimates.
For a question asked of 806 Iowa adults, the maximum margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated 19 times out of 20 with the same questions and in the same way, the survey results would not vary from the actual population value by more than plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. For results with smaller sample sizes of respondents, such as gender or age, the margin of error is even larger.
Republishing copyrighted Iowa Poll material without credit and linking to original The Des Moines Register and Mediacom content on digital platforms is prohibited.
