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Ron DeSantis gaining on Trump in Iowa, in virtual tie, internal poll shows

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Ron DeSantis gaining on Trump in Iowa, in virtual tie, internal poll shows


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is closing the gap on former President Donald Trump in the early nominating state of Iowa, according to an internal poll out this week.

The survey by WPA Intelligence for the DeSantis-supporting Never Back Down super PAC showed the 44-year-old governor in a virtual tie with the 76-year-old Trump in a head-to-head contest.

Trump had 45% support, while DeSantis had 43% support and 12% were undecided.

An early May head-to-head poll, taken before the Florida governor formally entered the race, showed Trump with 53% support, DeSantis on 39% and 8% undecided.

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DeSantis also made up ground on Trump in an Iowa survey that incorporated the full field.

In that poll, Trump had 39% support, DeSantis had 29%, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) had 7%, and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had 6% support.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy each had 4% support, while none of the other contenders cracked 1%.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is closing the gap on former President Donald Trump in the early nominating state of Iowa.
AP

In early May, the same survey found Trump had 48% support, DeSantis had 24% and Haley had 10% support, with no other candidate topping double figures.

“The Republican presidential caucus is a two-person race between Governor Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump,” wrote WPA CEO Chris Wilson and managing director Conor Maguire, both advisers to Never Back Down.

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“Despite heavy media attacks against Governor DeSantis, along with some rallying to Donald Trump following the New York indictment, DeSantis’ ballot share has grown in the past month while no other candidate exceeds single digits.”


Ron DeSantis
The survey by WPA Intelligence for the DeSantis-supporting Never Back Down super PAC showed DeSantis in a virtual tie with Trump in a head-to-head contest as Trump had 45% support and DeSantis with 43% support.
AP

The poll also found that three-quarters of likely Iowa GOP caucus-goers had a favorable view of DeSantis, while just 17% had an unfavorable view.

The governor had his highest favorability among men (80%) and women (79%) who held at least a college degree, while his favorability scores among Iowans without college degrees stood at 69%.

The survey also showed DeSantis edging Trump 46% to 45% among self-described Christen conservatives, who Wilson and Maguire said make up nearly half the Iowa Republican electorate.

The poll was released after DeSantis and his wife Casey kicked off his campaign last week with a whirlwind tour of Iowa and the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Trump also visited Iowa last week, holding a town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

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Trump still holds a sizable lead over DeSantis in public polling of the Hawkeye State.

The RealClearPolitics polling average in Iowa shows the former president on 47.7%, DeSantis at 25.3%, Haley on 5.3%, Pence on 3.7% and Ramaswamy rounding out the top five at 2.3%.

The 45th president’s lead over his competitors is even wider among national Republican voters.

The RealClearPolitics average shows Trump on 53.2%, DeSantis on 22.4%, Haley on 4.4%, Pence on 3.8%, and Ramaswamy again in fifth averaging 2.6% support.

WPA Intelligence surveyed 655 likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers May 30 and June 1.

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The poll’s margin of error was plus-or-minus 3.8 percentage points.



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Iowa

Titans Linked to Sleeper Iowa State WR

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Titans Linked to Sleeper Iowa State WR


Heading into the NFL offseason, the top question surrounding the Tennessee Titans will be about what they’re going to do at the quarterback position.

Will Levis and Mason Rudolph are clearly not clear-cut options long-term.

Outside of that question, the Titans will also need to figure out how to add more weapons for whoever their starting quarterback ends up being. Pursuing another quality wide reciever should be something that they try to do.

In the 2025 NFL Draft, there are ways for Tennessee to address both of those issues. Taking a look at wide receivers in the third or fourth round would make a lot of sense.

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With that in mind, Justin Melo of Titan Sized has suggested a sleeper wide receiver out of Iowa State. In his recent five-round mock draft, Melo had the Titans taking Jayden Higgins in the fourth round.

“Are the Titans going to reunite Tee Higgins with Brian Callahan? Callahan’s offense will need an offseason addition to play “X” receiver next season. If Higgins proves to be too expensive, drafting a big-bodied weapon like Jayden Higgins offers an alternative route. Higgins does an outstanding job high-pointing the football at the catch point,” Melo wrote.

Higgins has put together an impressive 2024 season with the Cyclones. He has caught 87 passes for 1,183 yards and nine touchdowns.

Standing in at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Higgins would bring great size to the Tennessee wide receiver room. His size would make him a lethal threat, especially in red zone situations.

Throughout his entire college career, Higgins has racked up 227 receptions for 3,317 yards and 28 touchdowns. He has proven himself to be a more than capable playmaker.

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Taking a flier on him in the fourth round would be a very wise investment. He may not pan out, but if he reaches his full potential he could end up developing into a starter.

He may be a sleeper and wouldn’t be a “flashy” addition, but Higgins has all of the makings of being a draft steal for a team like the Titans who could use a little more help at the position.

Make sure you bookmark Tennessee Titans on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!



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Runnin’ Utes give up 2nd half lead as Iowa pulls away for 95-88 win

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Runnin’ Utes give up 2nd half lead as Iowa pulls away for 95-88 win


SOUIX FALLS, S.D. — Iowa’s defense was smothering, and Utah did little to help itself on offense by starting the game shooting just 12.5% from the floor.

It was another first-half slow start against a Quad 1 opponent this season.

But unlike in previous Quad 1 games, where Utah allowed the opposing team run away with an early double-digit lead, the Runnin’ Utes fought back. And it was Mason Madsen, who earned his first start of the season, who provided the game-changing spark.

Madsen got a defensive rebound, and then hit a 3-pointer on the other end to open up three straight 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to give Utah its first lead of the game.

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From there, Utah found its offense to control a 4-point lead at the halftime break before building up the lead to 10 in the second half.

Iowa didn’t back down, though, and slowly chipped away at the lead before eventually pulling away for a 95-88 win at the Sanford Pentagon in the Utah’s final nonconference game of the season.

Madsen finished with 24 points, including going 6-of-11 from 3-point range, six rebounds and four assists, but it wasn’t enough to contend with Iowa’s offensive attack late. Lawson Lovering added 25 points, four rebounds and two assists in the loss.

Iowa forward Payton Sandfort led the charge in the second half and contributed a team-high 24 points and seven rebounds, while four other Iowa players finished in double-digit scoring.

Utah opened up the game shooting just 1-of-8 from the field as Iowa took an early 9-2 lead that was also helped by a defense that forced the Utes into late-shot situations and poor looks. Little by little, Utah found a way to get back into the game, largely by Madsen’s hot shooting and Lovering’s strong post play.

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Less than two minutes into the second half, Ezra Ausar hit two free throws to give the Utes a team-high 11-point lead. Over the next five minutes, Iowa slowly chipped away at Utah’s lead and made it a 4-point game with 14:13 left to play.

Utah made only 2 points over the next three minutes as Iowa cut the lead to a single possession before Drew Thelwell hit a 3-pointer with 10:47 left for the go-ahead score. Once Iowa reclaimed the lead, there was little Utah could do over the final 10 minutes of game time to stop the Hawkeyes’ lead from growing.

Owen Freeman, the team’s leading scorer who averages 17.2 points per game, got into foul trouble and was forced to sit for much of the game — including picking up a fourth foul with just under 11 minutes to play — but finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists, while adding three blocks in just 19 minutes of play.

Thelwell and Josh Nix added 15 points apiece, and Brock Harding contributed 12 points to round out Iowa’s top scoring.

Utah closes out nonconference play with an 8-3 record, with all three losses coming against Quad 1 opponents. The Utes resume action on Dec. 31 in Waco, Texas, to start Big 12 play against Baylor.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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Extra Point: What Awaits Miami in the Pop-Tart Bowl vs. Iowa State?

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Extra Point: What Awaits Miami in the Pop-Tart Bowl vs. Iowa State?


When the Miami Hurricanes and Cam Ward take the field against the Iowa State Cyclones on Dec. 28, the Hurricanes will see an offense much like some they faced this season in ACC play.

The Cyclones are no pushover, and have the numbers to back that up. Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht tossed for over 3,200 yards this season and 22 touchdowns, most of which came at the hands of leading receiver Jayden Higgins, who caught for almost 1,200 yards on his own. Higgins has also pulled down a team-leading nine touchdowns thus far in the season, and will be looking to add to that total in the bowl game against the Hurricanes.

Those are just the surface level stats, though. Iowa State has some other weapons that could give the Miami defense some issues as well. For instance, their two headed backfield of Carson Hansen and Abu Sama III, which combined for over 1,200 yards on the ground this year. Samha is touted as one of the most talented underclassmen in the country, and is predicted by many to secure the starting role in the backfield next season.

Senior wideout Jaylin Noel serves as the team’s second leading receiver, and accounted for another 1,077 yards through the air this year for the cyclones. To put it bluntly, Iowa State has four to five guys on the field that can hurt a defense at all times, and that’s before discussing the defense.

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The Cyclone defensive backfield has picked off 14 passes this year, good enough for a top-30 ranking in that category per game. The pass rush may not be what it was for ISU in 2023, but with Cam Ward under center anyway, this game looks to be one decided through the air.

Unless Miami running back Damien Martinez gets going, it looks to be a pair of high-flying offenses duking it out in the Pop Tarts Bowl this year.



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