As the Acela Corridor fixates on Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslim immigration, the Republican front-runner's supporters in Iowa believe he is building a movement there that will blow away doubts about his strength in the first-voting state.
Here is the conventional wisdom: Yes, Trump has a lot of support in Iowa, but the people who tell pollsters they like Trump are not the type to leave their homes on a snowy night in February to attend a caucus and vote for him.
That could be true; we'll know more on Feb. 2. But Trump supporters believe he is bringing new voters into the caucus process. Lest critics dismiss that as purely wishful thinking, they point to examples in the past when candidates — Pat Robertson and Ron Paul are two — brought previously uninvolved people into the caucuses. If Trump can attract newcomers, on top of a substantial share of traditional caucus attendees, the theory goes, he can win.
There are signs that could be happening. On Oct. 21, Trump held a rally at the Memorial Auditorium in Burlington, Iowa; press reports said about 4,000 people attended. The majority of them, well over 2,000, were from Des Moines County, where Burlington is located, meaning they didn't drive from elsewhere in the state to see Trump.
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