Trump holds lead in Iowa poll while Haley ties DeSantis for second

Donald Trump continues to hold a commanding lead in Iowa while Nikki Haley has risen to tie with Ron DeSantis for second place in the GOP field, according to an NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll released Monday.

Forty-three percent of likely Republican caucusgoers picked the former president as their first-choice candidate, giving him a 27-point lead that's up four percentage points since the August Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

Former U.N. Ambassador Haley, up 10 percentage points since August, and Florida Gov. DeSantis, down three percentage points, both trail Trump at 16 percent in the poll released about a week ahead of the third GOP debate. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) follows with 7 percent and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy both hold 4 percent.

The poll also found that 65 percent of likely caucusgoers believe Trump can win a general election against President Joe Biden despite the legal challenges the former president faces — while 32 percent said it would be nearly impossible for him to beat Biden.

Trump is facing felony charges in four criminal cases regarding his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, allegations of mishandling classified documents and his connection with hush money payments to a porn star.

Trump predicted that he would win the Jan. 15 caucuses while in Iowa Sunday, saying “I go around saying of course we’re going to win Iowa. My people said you cannot assume that."

The poll of 404 likely Republican caucusgoers was conducted Oct. 22-26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.