--- title: Donald Trump: Here's Which GOP Candidate Is Ahead in Iowa description: A new poll shows that Donald Trump is leading the Republican field in Iowa, but he's not who Iowans thought won the first debate. canonical: https://time.com/3992994/donald-trump-iowa-poll/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-11T19:01:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:08.746Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's Which GOP Candidate Is Ahead in Iowa og:description: And who Iowans think won the debate. og:url: https://time.com/3992994/donald-trump-iowa-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7c45a0cebb70bb0/69885e84428a9ec5d9cce91c/donald-trump-women.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Real estate tycoon Donald Trump flashes the thumbs-up as he arrives on stage for the start of the prime time Republican presidential debate on August 6, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Which GOP Candidate Is Ahead in Iowa twitter:description: And who Iowans think won the debate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7c45a0cebb70bb0/69885e84428a9ec5d9cce91c/donald-trump-women.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Which GOP Candidate Is Ahead in Iowa > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 11, 2015 7:01 PM UTC  Real estate tycoon Donald Trump flashes the thumbs-up as he arrives on stage for the start of the prime time Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Aug. 6, 2015. Real estate tycoon Donald Trump flashes the thumbs-up as he arrives on stage for the start of the prime time Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Aug. 6, 2015. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 11, 2015 7:01 PM UTC Donald Trump is leading the Republican field in Iowa, though many likely voters there think Marco Rubio and Ben Carson won last week’s debate, according to a new poll. [The Suffolk University Iowa poll](http://www.suffolk.edu/news/60760.php#.Vco%5FOp1VhHy) found Trump in first place in the first-in-the-nation contest with 17%, followed by Scott Walker with 12% and Marco Rubio with 10%. Trump is currently leading most national polls. But the Suffolk University poll found that Trump’s lead was narrower among voters who had watched the first Republican debate on Aug. 6\. Among those viewers, Trump and Walker were tied at 14%, while 55% said they were less comfortable with Trump as a candidate after watching the debate. Instead, debate viewers said that Rubio and Carson were the most impressive candidates. Trump has [come under fire](http://time.com/3989656/donald-trump-redstate-gathering/) since the debate for attacking Fox moderator Megyn Kelly. The survey was conducted with 500 likely Iowa presidential caucus voters and has a margin of error of +/-4.4 percent. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3992994/donald-trump-iowa-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3992994/donald-trump-iowa-poll/"},"headline":"Here's Which GOP Candidate Is Ahead in Iowa","datePublished":"2015-08-11T19:01:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:08.746Z","description":"A new poll shows that Donald Trump is leading the Republican field in Iowa, but he's not who Iowans thought won the first debate.","url":"https://time.com/3992994/donald-trump-iowa-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Sen. Marco Rubio","Donald Trump","Dr. Benjamin S. 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