Better than a giant teddy bear: Donald Trump takes home top prize from Iowa State Fair

Some clarity is finally emerging about who actually won the candidate showdown at the Iowa State Fair this month.

Former President Donald Trump has defeated all candidates, but not with majority support, according to the Secretary of State.

Trump has 42.47% of the votes counted, with Ron DeSantis drawing 15.31% support, and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina picking up 11.09% support. Vivek Ramaswamy is in fourth place, at 9.37%.

“We conduct the State Fair Straw Poll each year to encourage voter registration and participation in Iowa’s General Elections. Voting is the best way to ensure Iowans’ voices are heard, and I want every eligible Iowan to register to vote,” said Secretary Paul Pate.

“It is always interesting to see the final results because historically, the State Fair Straw Poll, while unscientific, has been a fairly accurate indicator of official election results.”

The poll results come after DeSantis carped about Trump upstaging his day at the fair.

During an interview on the Guy Benson Show, DeSantis blasted Trump’s attempts to take the spotlight off him in the Hawkeye State, which seems to be the linchpin of the DeSantis strategy in the 2024 race.

“When I was at the Iowa State fair with (Gov.) Kim Reynolds, that’s when they did their counterprogram. I think he was on the ground for 45 or 50 minutes. I was the only candidate he cared about in Iowa. He came because I was there and he wanted to try to take some of the attention away from us,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis participated in a so-called “Fair Side Chat” with Reynolds Saturday, but Trump upstaged him, including by having his plane fly over the Governor’s photo op cooking pork steaks, and by having a plane with a banner that said “Be Likable, Ron” overhead when the Governor was campaigning and dealing with protesters in the crowd drowning out his message.

“He had a very small crowd. He only had a few people show up. It’s a big difference,” Trump told reporters at the Iowa State Fair, as he offered a comparison of the crowd he drew versus that drawn earlier in the day by the Florida Governor.

Trump was accompanied to Iowa by various Florida members of Congress who have endorsed him, including U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Brian Mast, Cory Mills, Greg Steube and Mike Waltz.

Gaetz, who was a help to DeSantis in 2018’s campaign for Governor, got the best line of all the members of Congress about his erstwhile ally, talking about how burgers were cooked, going from rare to well done, and saying “the most done you can be is Ron DeSantis.”

Meanwhile, other newly released Iowa polling is showing Trump ahead of the rest of the field, though there is a range of margins.

The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce poll shows Trump with 45%, DeSantis with 11%, Ramaswamy at 9% and Scott at 8%.

Echelon Insights shows a tighter race, with Trump at just 33%, DeSantis at 17%, Scott at 13% and Ramaswamy at 8%.