Donald Trump campaigns in Iowa amid Republican backlash to his recent abortion comments
Donald Trump is touting a general election message on abortion — four months before the Iowa Caucuses, when evangelical Republicans will play an outsize role in choosing the Republican Party’s nominee for president.
His choice of message reflects Trump’s strength in the state, where he has held onto a significant polling lead for months, even as it risks fracturing Iowa’s deeply pro-life caucus electorate.
On NBC’s "Meet the Press," Trump said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to sign a six-week abortion ban into law “is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” Iowa Republicans passed a nearly identical ban that Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law earlier this year.
More: Donald Trump campaigns in eastern Iowa as opponents criticize his abortion comments
Trump also repeatedly declined to say during the interview whether he would support a federal abortion ban at 15 weeks or otherwise — an issue that has taken center stage on the Iowa campaign trail.
“I think they're all going to like me,” he said, promising to be a mediator between Republicans and Democrats on the issue. “I think both sides are going to like me.”
The former president returned to Iowa Wednesday for campaign events in Maquoketa and Dubuque amid a growing chorus of voices criticizing those comments — including Reynolds.
“It’s never a ‘terrible thing’ to protect innocent life,” Reynolds, who rarely comments on the specifics of candidates’ campaign proposals, posted to social media Tuesday. “I’m proud of the fetal heartbeat bill the Iowa Legislature passed and I signed in 2018 and again earlier this year.”
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign declined to comment but pointed to posts Trump made on his social media website, Truth Social, Tuesday afternoon.
“I was able to do something that nobody thought was possible, end Roe v. Wade,” Trump boasted. “For 52 years, people talked, spent vast amounts of money, but couldn’t get the job done. I got the job done!”
While campaigning in Dubuque Wednesday afternoon, Trump reiterated his belief that abortion is a losing issue unless Republicans talk about it the right way.
But even as some Republicans express concern that Trump may be backtracking on his support for the anti-abortion movement, Democrats have been adamant that his past record should indicate what he's likely to support in the future.
"There isn’t any doubt," the Democratic National Committee wrote in a news release. "If Trump is reelected, we know he’d only build on his opportunities to rip away women’s reproductive freedom."
Are Trump’s abortion comments enough to erode his Iowa support?
On the campaign trail in Iowa and elsewhere, Trump has routinely touted himself as “the most pro-life president” in history after appointing three conservative Supreme Court justices who ultimately rejected the constitutional right to an abortion that America lived by for decades.
It has helped win Trump throngs of supporters in Iowa — many of whom have been unwavering in their support, even as he faces 91 criminal charges and other scrutiny.
But in Iowa, where 80% of likely Republican caucusgoers describe themselves as “pro-life,” Trump’s latest abortion comments have rankled some who fear he might not advance the issue as president.
Plymouth County Republican Party Chair Don Kass said that “a number of the hardcore anti-abortion folks, which I generally am one, will be taken aback by” Trump’s comments.
“But I don't think it will erode his overall support enough, right now, to prevent him from winning,” he said. “… I think President Trump is looking beyond the primaries with the belief that he's already got it wrapped up.”
Ronald Horan of Maquoketa, who attended Trump's event in the city on Wednesday, said he believes the former president will adhere to the anti-abortion cause.
"I'm pretty confident he's still going to do what we want to do," said Horan, who supports Iowa's abortion restrictions, which start at around six weeks.
Horan said there was "room for negotiation" on the issue of abortion when it comes to exceptions for the mother's health, rape and incest.
Trump maintains a strong lead in Iowa. He led an August Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll by 23 percentage points. And a Real Clear Politics rolling average of Iowa polling shows him with a 30-point lead.
Among evangelicals, Trump led the Register’s Iowa Poll by an even larger margin: 27 percentage points over DeSantis.
Much of his support is locked in. Of those who say he is their first choice for president, 66% said their minds are made up. For DeSantis, 31% said their minds are made up.
Kass said that Trump's abortion comments may not be enough to move some of those supporters away from him, but it could create an opening for DeSantis to consolidate support among those who say they are still weighing their options.
“Considering that the governor and both houses of the (Iowa) Legislature are probably in his camp on this issue, yeah, it probably is” an opportunity, Kass said.
Iowa Republicans bristle at criticism after passing their own six-week abortion ban
Reynolds signed Iowa’s six-week abortion ban into law this summer over the objections of Democrats, and she received a standing ovation as she thanked the evangelical community for helping to push it over the finish line.
Republican State Rep. John Wills, who has endorsed DeSantis, said Trump supporters in the Iowa House pushed back at the time against arguments that Iowa’s six-week ban went too far.
“When people in our caucus were saying things about ‘Well, this is too much or too far,’ they had pretty strong words against that,” he said. “… I think it's mental gymnastics to (now) say, ‘Well, it doesn't make any difference.’”
Steve Scheffler, president of the Christian conservative Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, said it’s hard to predict how caucusgoers will ultimately make up their minds about candidates. But he doesn’t think Trump’s comments will help him in Iowa.
“He did more for the pro-life movement than any president in history by far, bar none. I think we’ll be forever grateful for that,” Scheffler said. “But depicting saving human life at six weeks, calling it 'terrible' — I just don't agree with that statement at all.”
Trump argued during his interview on "Meet the Press" that Republicans need a different abortion message to succeed with general election voters.
“Other than certain parts of the country, you can’t — you’re not going to win on this issue,” he said. “But you will win on this issue when you come up with the right number of weeks. Because Democrats don’t want to be radical on the issue, most of them. Some do. They don’t want to be radical on the issue.”
It mirrors comments he made blaming Republican midterm losses on the “abortion issue” and on Republicans who campaigned on banning abortions without exceptions.
But Alan Ostergren, a Republican attorney who has defended Iowa’s abortion restrictions in court, said the comments are “out of step with Iowa Republican caucus attendees.”
“It’s one thing to be practical in advancing pro-life legislation,” he said. “But Trump shows that on the question of life, just like everything else, this is just a deal for him to cut.”
Opponents lob attacks at Trump’s abortion comments in Iowa
Trump’s comments have opened the door for some of his competitors to lob easy attacks.
“I think if he’s going into this saying he’s going to make the Democrats happy with respect to right to life, I think all pro-lifers should know that he’s preparing to sell you out,” DeSantis said in an interview with Radio Iowa.
“Donald Trump may think it’s terrible,” he said of the six-week ban. “I think protecting babies with heartbeats is noble and just and I’m proud to have signed the heartbeat bill in Florida, and I know Iowa has similar legislation. I don’t know how you can even make the claim that you’re somehow pro-life if you’re criticizing states for enacting protections for babies that have heartbeats.”
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina took a rare swing at Trump during a Mason City campaign stop this week.
"President Trump said he would negotiate with the Democrats and walk back away from what I believe we need, which is a 15-week limit on the federal level," he said.
He accused Trump and other Republicans of being unwilling to sign a national ban that would prevent Democrat-led states from enacting less restrictive abortion laws.
"I say, not on my watch,” Scott said.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.