President Donald Trump campaigned in Kansas and is scheduled to visit Iowa as close Senate polls in both states and concern over living costs frame the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) results show Trump won Kansas and Iowa by more than 10 percentage points each in the 2024 presidential election. The Senate surveys measure separate races, with neither showing a lead beyond its reported uncertainty range.
A September Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media survey of likely Kansas voters put Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton at 45% and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall at 43%. Emerson reported a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. It also noted that Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932.
In Iowa, an Oct. 8-11 Marist survey of likely voters found 48% support for Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turek and 45% for Republican candidate Ashley Hinson. The difference was within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 6.6 percentage points.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted Oct. 16-19 found that 31% of adults approved of Trump’s job performance. Among registered voters, 47% chose the cost of living as the most important factor in their congressional vote.
At his Kansas rally on Oct. 19, Trump announced plans for an $8 billion program to help farmers pay for diesel. He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would launch the assistance and credited Marshall with pressing for it.
The Kansas and Iowa contests are part of a Senate election in which Democrats need four net gains. France 24 interpreted Trump’s campaigning in states he won comfortably as a sign of Republican concern about weaker polling.
A rally organizer lists a Trump event in Pendleton, South Carolina, for Oct. 21. Trump is scheduled to rally in Sioux City, Iowa, on Oct. 22, before voters decide the Senate races on Nov. 3.
