Leading up to the 2024 presidential election, Americans had been left on edge, with Vice President Kamala Harris having a marginal lead in the projected popular vote as she is shadowed by the Biden-Harris administration’s high grocery prices and prolonged international conflicts. Meanwhile, Former President Donald Trump had received criticism for his 34 felony counts, one conviction, two impeachments and six bankruptcies, among other violations.
An Iowa poll conducted by Ann Selzer projected that Harris would lead over Trump 47% to 44%, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points. This surprised Iowans as the state has consistently been voting Republican parties into office since the 2016 presidential election; this trend continued as Trump had a swift and crushing 2024 run in Iowa, prompting Selzer to release a statement saying that she would reevaluate her polling methodology.
Additionally, Gannett, the publishing chain that owns the Des Moines Register, launched an investigation Nov. 11 after the poll’s now discredited findings were leaked on X, formerly known as Twitter, an hour before they were published on the Des Moines Register website.
Amidst all of this, voters across Iowa had been grappling with numerous responsibilities, ranging from voter identity verification to submitting ballots.
However, eligible voters first need to register to vote. Voter registration can take place online or be completed via a voter registration form. Voter registration has shown to be less prominent among youth voters due to obstacles with obtaining personal information, such as Social Security Number, thus reducing youth voter turnout.
Registered voters are then given the option to vote through absentee ballots, early in-person voting or Election Day (ED) voting. 675,464 absentee ballots were counted by the system by Election Day morning, which accounts for 35% of the total ballot count in the state. 934,219 votes were submitted on Election Day, which is potentially linked to the surge in pro-Trump voter turnout as the former president consistently advocated against mail-in ballots during the 2020 election.
Parallel to the presidential election, exit poll results from Iowa’s 1st Congressional District indicate that Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is approximately 800 votes ahead of Democratic candidate Christina Bohannan.
Overall, such voting patterns show significant rightward shifts in party affiliation, marking a republican era for the nation, with a projected republican trifecta emerging in the executive branch, Senate and House of Representatives.
