Iowa Republicans in Focus Group Say They Would Only Vote For Someone Else If Trump ‘Died or Murdered Someone’

The only thing that would keep Iowa Republicans from voting for Donald Trump would be if he did “something extreme,” including “murder,” according to the results of a GOP focus group.

Sarah Longwell with the Republican Accountability Project told CNN that Trump had all but locked up GOP support in Iowa where the Republican presidential caucuses will be held on Jan. 15.

“I don’t actually really see a path for either of them,” Longwell said of candidates Nikki Haley (R-SC) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL). “But they are fighting right now for second place because Trump is so dominating the race and continues to dominate.”

Longwell continued:

In fact, I did a focus group with the Iowa voters just this week, and I asked them if there was anything that would turn them off from Donald Trump. And one said, “Well, if he did something extreme like either died or murdered somebody.” That was the only thing that would make them not vote for him, and [vote for] one of the other candidates. Everyone in the group was more or less for Donald Trump, and they all certainly believed that Donald Trump would be the nominee coming out of Iowa.

Earlier in the discussion Longwell explained how important the second-place spot was to the future political careers of both DeSantis and Haley.

“The stakes for Ron DeSantis are, if he comes in third in Iowa, his political career maybe not totally over, but it is going to be in a deep freeze coma,” Longwell said, continuing:

If Nikki Haley comes in second place, then it opens up what is the narrowest of paths to go into New Hampshire with some momentum, and that is a state that is tailor-made — really tailor made —  and maybe the only state tailor-made for somebody other than Trump to potentially prevail, or at least get really, really close to Trump. That would at least allow her to go into her home state of South Carolina with some wind at her back. However, South Carolina, not as friendly as you’d think to its previous governor, and still much more of a Trump state.

Haley and DeSantis will square off for CNN’s presidential debate Thursday night, while Trump is scheduled to participate in a Fox News town hall.

Watch the clip above via CNN.