meant to be a servant to the people and everything they do should be public knowledge. that will definitely be very important in my deciding who to vote for. >> the most important issue to me this election is unity, someone that can bring the country together rather than create divisiveness and instill fear in people. i do not want people to be afraid or paranoid. i want them to come together and have a rational discussion. >> the top issue for me is going to be the economy and gas prices and inflation are huge to me and with wages not going up i think it is important we get that under control and keep economic prosperity as a top issue for all of us. announcer: c-span voices 2024: be a part of the conversation. host: we are on sunset drive

with tabatha, it is negative seven degrees outside. what are you doing? guest: we are caucusing. >> even if we don't have the cards, get people to go to the website. these people here. and they are going to come on monday night and caucus around. funny thing is when we knocked on the door, they said we were just talking about ron desantis. i don't know if they watch c-span, but i hope so. host: how many doors are you going to knock on? >> we might get 20 this afternoon. we are going to come out tomorrow. when the sun is setting and it gets a little colder, it gets a

little harder to do that. >> of all the groups that have been out, we probably knocked on 100 doors. guest: being out in the cold, is that critical to get invited into the house? >> they are all different. host: has anybody made you stand at the door and talk? >> a gentleman who was out earlier. >> our car is in the way, sorry. thank you. host: how much trouble have you had with doorknocking? >> basically, the point is to tell them about the independent

-- ron desantis or president and to let them know the caucus is coming up, there is a little qr code to show them, to inform them of anything if they want to answer any questions. >> the big point is the huge caucus for ron desantis monday night and if you have any questions or if you are averse to doing that, can we help you? host: most importantly, stay warm. >> thank you so much. announcer: tonight, watch c-span campaign 2024 live coverage of the iowa gop caucuses as we preview the first in the nation voting. we will take you inside to watch the assets on old, on altered and uninterrupted from registration to caucus -- to vote counts. we will bring you results with

candidate speeches and we will take your calls. it all begins at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span and on c-span two, where you can watch our special caucus can to exit providing historical context and real-time play-by-play analysis of the caucuses. live coverage of the iowa caucuses tonight at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span two, c-span now, and online at c-span.org/campaign2024. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television companies and more, including pipe -- comcast. >> you thought this was just a community center? it is more than that. comcast is partnering to create -- create wi-fi-enabled locations so sdents from low income families can to the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a

public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. host: this is washington journal for january 15. it is decision day in iowa as state resident raise -- great freezing temperatures to dissipate and caucuses across the state. also to see how both nikki haley and ron desantis will place. our coverage starts tonight at 7:30 with ages and calls. you can watch on c-span, c-span.org, c-span radio, and you can follow along on our app. on this caucus day, call us about what you expect to see as it plays out today and how you expect various candidates to perform. republicans, -- excuse me, democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independents, (202) 748-8002. free you iowa voters in the audience, (202) 748-8003 is the number you can call. you can use that same number to text us, and you can also post on facebook and on x. the register talked about the various campaigns involved in today's caucuses and how they are managing expectations from the results from tonight. this you can find online, their website saying going into tonight, republican presidential candidates are aggressively trying to manage expectations for the results, with donald trump tempering the idea that he should win with 50% or more of the votes. ron desantis team pushing supporters to believe he could still be victorious. the candidate trying to reach iowans even as the weather forth cancellations and schedule changes. the desantis campaign with the endorsement of governor kim reynolds pushing supporters to never back down in western one

with the quote we need to get out and caucus and if we get to the caucus i can tell you without hesitation with the energy, motivation and what we are we are seeing is which up of the state, this guy will be the iowa caucuses monday night. the des moines register featured the iowa polls that showed where candidates stood going into today with former president trump expecting at the time of those polls 28% followed by nikki haley at 20%, governor desantis at 60%, vivek ramaswamy -- governor desantis at 16%, vivek ramaswamy at 8%. also to watch out for as the day plays out as the weather. the des moines register picking up that weather saying bitterly frigid temperatures and subzero wind chills. their willingness to support their presidential candidates, their favorite ones. it officially kicks off at 7:00

p.m. with doors mostly open generally at 6:00. monday is supposed to be the coldest caucus since 1972. the coldest was -4. the high that they was 25 degrees. the forecast for today, it could feel like temperature wise 20 to 25 degrees below zero, even 30 degrees in some spots. a couple things to watch out for as you watch the iowa caucuses play out. good call and talk about the process itself and the candidates at play. give us a call at (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. it independents, -- and independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also if you are an iowa voter call us and let us know your thoughts if you are going to participate especially, (202) 748-8003. use that same number two text us, and you can post on our

facebook and x feeds. the candidates making their last pictures to the public before today's vote. former president donald trump stopped in indianola, iowa, sunday talking about the process and his polling numbers leading up to today. here is a portion of that from yesterday. [video clip] >> since 2016, you and i have been in this battle side-by-side and together and we have been taking on the entire corrupt system in washington like no one has ever done before. i had no idea it was this corrupt it is bad. i did a lot of things. this is a man right there that knows we did a lot. we did some great things. [applause] we did. we might not be standing here. that did not work out too well for them. we are leading in the polls by a lot. we are leading nationally.

the one just came out where it is 71-0. [applause] you ever notice the fake news? they go nikki haley is surging. she went from eight to 11. i went from 66 to 71. ron desantis went down, too. she overtook him by one at 11. the story is nikki haley surges. i am at 71. she is at seven. i don't have the same headlines. haley surges. at the beginning, they have been throwing everything at us, the never ending scheme. brilliant high-energy scheme. his boycotts and lies and horrendous uses of power. host: former president trump

from yesterday. we will be the other candidates as they made their final cases. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you are an iowa voter, (202) 748-8003. republican line starts us off in illinois on this caucus day in iowa. go ahead. caller: good morning, sir. i really appreciate you having beyond there. i am a 1000% trump voter. i know when trump gets income the first thing he does is the border will be shut off. as far as his opponents, haley, i feel like she is just part of the washington slump, has always been part of washington. desantis, i feel like the guy was a trophy. he should have a little bit of humor about some things and i don't feel like he can handle everything like trump can. i pray to god that trump gets in

there and that he can save our country like he did before because we are in the biggest mess we have ever been in in our life. god bless you. god bless your program, and thank you for having me. host: kevin in illinois. the caucuses, you can talk about the people involved forget in georgia in cartersville, democrats lied, eddie is next. go ahead. caller: how are you doing? what i was listening to all the years that the republicans -- neither one will win. we will keep joe biden in office because he showed us who he really represents, the people. donald trump gets on their ad nikki and all of them just talk about each other, fighting among each other. they are not going to do nothing

for america. they are not going to do nothing for other countries get they just talk noise. we don't need them at office. we have enough democrats to keep joe biden or whoever that we need a democrat in office. it just amazes me how that is all they do, get on tv and talk. they want supporters from democrats. they are not going to get it because they just talk about people. they don't talk about none of their policies, how they are going to help. the republicans, they act like they are drinking -- smoking crack or something. they will not get in there and help either one of us. they will do love donald trump, fill their own pockets up. host: that is edgy in georgia. republicans have been getting a lot of attention during this process.

abc news highlights the fact that democrats too will caucus today. they highlight the story on the website saying that as voters host -- as republicans host at their locations, there will be alternate delegates to vote on platform wishes but that is where the similarities end. the iowa democratic party will not host an in person presidential preference contest, opting for mail-in ballots with the incumbent president joe biden, dean phillips, varian williamson, and option for uncommitted. the party started accepting requests on the parties website and by mail november last year. they will start to be mailed out but not accepted in person. all of the cards have to be postmarked by brush fire when more than a dozen other states hold their primaries, otherwise known as super tuesday. again, democrats play out today, but republicans getting a lot of attention during the caucuses. all of the stump speeches they

have been giving the last several days so available on our website at c-span.org and our app, c-span now. asking you to comment about what you expect to play out today not only when it comes to the process but the candidates involved. republican line in california, riverside, we would hear from david. hello. caller: good morning, pedro. ed good morning, america. i think it is important that a vote for ron desantis today. his age advantage or the fact that he can have two terms. but desantis is better in almost every way that trump more honest, more moral, more conservative, and he will not knock you down like trump did during the pandemic. the democrats are reading the election with foreign indictments on truck. focal be in jail after the primary but before the general election. independents will not vote for him. we need to win the general election so we can prosper again

and stop being lied to by the liberals. this is not a protest vote. this is for real. host: if i may ask, you are probably seeing the polling numbers coming out of i am a with him coming in third place behind the former president ad nikki haley. what do you think about those results and what that says about his campaign in iowa? caller: i think he will come in second because he has a good ground game. any indication he is in second and trump could be taken off the ballot by the supreme court in, what is it, february. also, he could go to jail. you are picking an injured candidate if you are picking trump. dissent is young and proven and ready and not outrageous the way trump is. host: tom is next in ohio, democrats line on this caucus day. good morning. caller: people bringing god into

the spirit takes me because, man --se the band has cheated on every wife he has ever had, never goes to church, and lies constantly. they can tell me they are religious but they cannot tell me they are christians. that is not the christian faith. thank you. host: ok, that is tom there. the bbc highlighting evangelical support in iowa in a recent story. the christians are expected to make about two thirds of all republican caucus-goers. they are a diverse voting block made up of various nominations, including those who may not regularly go to church but still defined themselves as evangelicals. 2016, mr. trump picked up 22% of the group on the way to a second

place finish behind texas senator ted cruz. but since that time when many were still skeptical of the businessman, mr. trump has made that a key part of his voter base. it is suggested he will get half of evangelical voters. tune into this program later on this morning. we will be joined by bob, who serves as the president and ceo. he is also a supporter of ron desantis but represents the evangelical voters. we will talk to him about not only their support but the caucus overall later on the program. edward in wisconsin, hi there. caller: hi. i am a lifetime democrat, but obama and pelosi hijacked the democratic party and took it to crazy land. i think trump is the best president in my lifetime.

i'm interested in vivek ramaswamy. i think he is a future star coming up and it will be interesting if he came in third. i think it would be interesting to keep an eye on him. host: why? what gained your -- what attracted you to him in the first place? caller: the same thing that attracted me to truck. when trump first ran, i thought it was a joke but the more i listened to him, the more i agreed with him. ramaswamy i did not think had a chance in hell, but the more i listen to him, he is very smart and has a great plan for the united states and i think he is a future star. host: that is edward in wisconsin, independent line. again, betty bangs including vivid -- again, many names, including vivek ramaswamy running in this caucus contest today in iowa forgetting

ramaswamy was on a tv station yesterday and iowa talk about how he stood in the recent iowa polls to what he thought that meant as far as his campaign is concerned. here is a portion of that interview from yesterday. [video clip] >> the first thing is i think the polls are dead wrong because what we are seeing on the ground as many of our supporters uniquely our first time caucus-goers that are not called. i have been over 390 events, more than all of the other candidates combined. and one of the things i started to do is -- we have a large room. even in the snow, large audiences turned out. how many people have been pulled? in a large room, baby one hand will go up or maybe not. i asked company will go out and caucus for me? 75% of the hands go up in that room. there will be ai have a good shg the iowa caucus, definitely chattering expectations for us. i saw that post that president

trump made. i think a lot of people attuned to what is happening on the ground, their campaigns are starting to see that late search i have had. some of life over compass would steve king endorsed me. many expected him to go with donald trump. he went with me because of my can against the co2 pipeline and others. one of the strongest constitutional conservatives in the state just switched from ron desantis to me. other constitutional conservatives endorsing very late in the cycle so we are definitely seeing this late search at the very end as people thought through their decisions carefully, and i think they will reward the candidate who can really take principal positions the other candidates have been unable to take. i will pardon every peaceful january 6 protester on my first day in office. i am a candidate that can take these positions because i don't report to the donor class. my biggest donor is me. i report to the people of this

country, that has given us a late surge that caught the attention of some other candidates. host: that pole he is referencing by the way is the iowa poll. the des moines register reporting that the poll is made up of 705 likely caucus-goers. it was conducted january 7 to 12. .7 percentage points -- plus or -3.7 percentage points. 7% saying they don't have a first choice candidate. by the way, vivek ramaswamy in fourth place in that poll, 8%. that is up from 5% in december. and then former arkansas governor hutchinson at 1% currently in that poll. but they will fare today after the votes are counted, it is anybody's guess. stay close to c-span to watch

the process play out. our coverage tonight at 7:30. but only will you see results, speeches, reactions, and your calls, and reacted to everything played out in iowa today. follow along at c-span, c-span now, or c-span.org, and you can listen along at c-span radio. dan is next from youngstown, ohio. good morning, dan. go ahead. caller: ok, i want to start out by saying any of these republicans, any of them, will be better than joe biden. what the democrats have done to our country is an absolute sin. i want people to understand we are involved in two wars that we were not involved in before joe biden took office. also, whether democrats talk about threat to democracy, give me a break. the democrats are the ones that

will limit who could run against joe biden in the primary. what they did to kennedy is a shame. he was a good candidate who should have been heard. host: as a republican but do you have a republican that stands out today and iowa? caller: yes. now they are attacking their opponents. as i said, i thought any of the democrats would be better than joe biden. but the reason i am going for donald trump is because the way that opponents attacked him and the rules they are making to keep him off the ballot, what you see how badly they want to keep him out of the election, that is all the reason that we should not allow them to dictate who our candidate is. donald trump was president for four years. people were thriving. every race.

every economic different strata, they were all benefiting by donald trump's presence as president. host: on our democrats line in illinois, go ahead. caller: hello and good morning to all. donald trump of a people keep asking, why are republicans voted for him? first of all, the man is a walking racist. period. he is giving all kinds of nazi ideas. for one thing, he is the great white hope, but he will not win this race. impossible. people will not vote for him. let him keep talking about how he stopped roe v. wade himself. he is wrapping the rope around his deck, and the democrats are going to hang him with it. thank you very much. host: in indiana, republican line. hi. caller: hello. yes, i am a republican. i voted republican, straight

republican for 40 years. but i have a word for my fellow christians. i am a christian, too. in psalms, chapter 15, it says that a vile person is to be despised and contempt, but supported and voted for. in a recent testimony under oath in a rape case, donald trump said it is ok. and actually, it is a fortunate thing that a star like him could have his way with my wife and your wife. i am not going to say when he said in his own words on the air. that is a vile person. host: so if that is the case, than who is the republican that should stand out that, particularly as they campaign in iowa? caller: anyone except for trump.

you know, -- host: which one would you like to see? caller: nikki haley. host: why is that? caller: why is that? ronald reagan's greatest legacy is the fact that we no longer have ussr, a soviet union. and some of the republicans they want to hand ronald reagan's legacy back to russia by handing over ukraine and the black sea. that is what he wants. he wants another ussr. host: when it comes to that, what makes nikki haley different as far as foreign policy is concerned? caller: because she wants to support ukraine. she wants to keep russia in check. she doesn't want another soviet union. host: ok, nathan calling in talking about the evangelical support. told you a little bit about where it stands with the former

president. it highlights the poll, 51% among evangelicals as they are defined for the former president compared to 22% for florida governor ron desantis and only 12% of those supporting nikki haley. again, that vote you will see play out during the course of the day, especially towards this evening what iowans gather to vote around 7:00 their time to participate in this process. we are asking you not only about the process itself as a people running for office or at least office of president in iowa. again, we divided the lin democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. and independents, (202) 748-8002. i am a voters come if you want to make your voice known on this day, (202) 748-8003 is how you do that to in toledo, iowa, this is dennis. hello. caller: hello.

i have to laugh at these trump supporters. one of the first things trump did what he was president was pick jack as his attorney general. as attorney general, it was donald trump. why did you pick him? i mean these people who support trump, idiots. host: who are you supporting? are you going to participate tonight? caller: i am 72 years old. it is hard for me to get around. i'm a democrat. but to tell you the truth, of all the people, i like nikki haley. host: why is that? caller: because, you know, biden is too old.

trump is too old. chuck grassley is too old. nikki haley seems like a decent woman, where trump picks bimbos for wives. he is the one who marries them. so that is my comment. host: ok. in new york, rochester, democrats line. caller: hey, how are you doing? host: fine, thank you. go ahead. caller: good morning. it is kind of funny to me. i think they should leave trump alone. just let him run. he doesn't have coattails. he has been losing for the last seven years. just ask the republicans why they keep losing. you talking about truck and put biden's accomplishments next to trump's accompaniments. war is war. america is going to back democracy. leave trump alone and let him

run because he is going to lose. and for the media, that is one thing i agree with trump on. the media is no good. they keep hyping things up because they need ratings. all of these poles to my don't believe in polls, so have a great day. host: you don't believe in polls also. that is joe biden's experience rating. caller: trump has been losing for the last seven years. it happened to the red wave -- what happened to the red wave? 30,000 people followed the survey and trump came out by five. come on. i don't believe in polls. i think biden will win. host: ok, christopher, baltimore, maryland, republican line. hi there. caller: are you doing this morning? host: go ahead, you are on. caller: ok. i was taking about how sabine said earlier both trump and biden are old.

we see what happened with the gentleman in charge of the military. he did not notify the president when he was sick. neither of -- what happens if either of these gentlemen trump or biden get sick? we don't need to support every word that comes out. one thing i agree with trump, and i am not a fan of his, if you were to have a lot of immigrants come into your neighborhood, what would you do? i don't know. i am surprised the democrats have not tried to get somebody to replace elderly biden. it really has me baffled. host: as a republican, lukens that i campaigning in iowa, who do you want to see when -- for all of those campaigning in iraq, who do you want to see win? caller: i don't know. host: if that is the case, i will and the call there.

pick the line that best represents you. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. and we set aside and iowa voters line. (202) 748-8003 is how you look at that. take a look at the contest in iowa now that it is close to wrapping up. ries coming up is the money that has been spent in the state. this is from politico saying today outside groups have poured tens of millions of dollars in iowa. super pac's have spent more than $85 million on media ads, according to politico, which tracks political advertising. the groups expect $136 million in overall independent expenditures in the state according to sec filings, that far exceeds the $32 billion in outside spending iowa republicans report to the fec in 2016. this makes it the most expensive

caucus in iowa it comes as florida governor ron desantis and nikki haley scribble for the second place behind donald trump's commanding lead in the polls. on this i caucus day, again your thoughts on the caucus process as it plays out and the people involved in it, the candidates involved in it. we will hear from patrick in pennsylvania, republican line. caller: i have never seen a process like the american political process that has been so profoundly compromised. when i hear people talking about nikki haley, i began to monitor all of a sudden her poll numbers began to be manufactured up. and sure enough, i hit paydirt over and over and over again. you go to cnn, what are you hearing? they are all in on nikki haley. and the reason is twofold.

one, she is a shill for the military-industrial cartel. and two, she worked in the state department and is all about war and the intent of the united states to engage in nonstop military confrontations. all of these confrontations are completely manufactured. she is owned, owned, owned by the military-industrial complex. and now she is already surpassing desantis. the media has completely compromised, and yesterday on "washington journal" you had a democratic operative directly following the republican call in, the only call in show. and what did this woman say? even the moderator questioned her about this. she said you can come here and

instantly change your registration. so i am demanding an investigation in iowa of democrats who switched to republicans to manipulate and to compromise the political process. host: ok, patrick there in pennsylvania. former governor haley according to the iowa poll enjoying a second-place seat. former president trump above former governor desantis. you talked about not only tonight's events but how they play out in november. here is a portion from yesterday. [video clip] >> that's why november matters, because if you look at any of these poles had to head against biden -- polls head to head against biden, ron does not feet

biden. trump on a good day, it would be two points, can and we would be holding our breath. i am and every one of those polls against biden. i defeat biden by 17 points. [cheering and applause] [chanting] you know what that means? that is bigger than the presidency. that is governorship, house, senate, all the way down. [applause] if we go in with a strong win against biden, a double-digit win, that is a mandate going into d.c. that is a mandate to stop the

wasteful spending and get our economy back on track again it is a mandate to get our kids meeting again and go back to the basics in education. that is a mandate to secure our border with no more excuses. that is a mandate to bring law and order back to our country. and that is a mandate for a strong america we can be proud of. don't you want that again? [cheering and applause] because we could have that, but in order to have that, it is going to take a lot of courage. courage from every single person in this room. courage from me to run. bless you. ed courage for every single one of you to know, don't complain about what happens in a general election if you do not take part in the caucus tomorrow. it matters. host: nikki haley yesterday. to the caller's previous point

for the ability of those participating in the caucus to switch, the story was picked up yesterday. that could give haley a boost. some iowa democrats and independents are planning to crash the caucus on monday and become republicans for a day to vote for nikki haley but mostly against former president trump. it is unclear how many will show up but crossover voting is a low-key tradition in the iowa caucuses at one of the big unknowns going into monday with how dangerously weather will affect things -- dangerously cold weather will affect things. that is giving mischievous antitrust voters a "chance to diminish trump's inevitability." he told axios he will be a voter today for nikki haley, who is rising in gop polls. if you want to read the story, axios is where you can find it. let's hear from mike in vermont

on this caucus day, democrats lied. good morning, mike. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i am a democrat but i have a message for republican voters in iowa. you know, especially if you are evangelical. if you are evangelical, support for trump is not a christian thing to do. the man is a poster boy for the seven deadly sins. voting for him, supporting him, you betray your religion, god, and the country. by the late, there is also no deep state. there is only shallow minds and conspiracy theories that hold no water at all. support for trump is practically treasonous. host: from missouri, independent mind, cory is next. caller: i've got two points to make and then i will shout out who i am wanting to run and voting for. these republicans in the

congress and everything, these candidates keep saying the cartel keeps running the people that are coming across the border and all the drugs. why don't they stop the nra backed -- all the republicans that are nra backed? up letting them send guns, 200,000 to 500,000 military style weapons to mexico and letting the cartel buy them off those people to run the border? host: to bring it up to today, as far as the iowa caucuses are concerned, who do you want to see win today? caller: the only reasonable candidate for republicans, and that is john casey, but he is not running because he stood up for democracy in milwaukee in 2020 from joe biden. host: ok. antonio, republican line in texas, go ahead. caller: how are you doing?

i will vote number one for trump. but if trump can't have it, i would like to see nikki haley. preferably trump. host: so let's start with nikki haley. why if the former president can't do it, why is nikki haley the second choice? caller: because i think she has her head on straight and i think she would do a better job than ramaswamy. and i am not for that. host: as far as support for the former president, she has been enjoying strong pull and in the caucuses. how do you think that will help him coming out of today should he win the caucuses overall? caller: i think it will be good for the country because he has been president before. he did a great job. nobody has done better. i think he would do an even better job the second time

around. host: if i may ask, you talked about nikki haley as well as mr. trump. why not governor desantis in that mix? caller: again, i don't trust desantis. i think he is sanctimonious. i do trust trump. he picked haley to be the u.n. representative. so i think he felt she was a good person, and i agree she is a good person. host: ok. caller: i would prefer trump though because we know what he would duplicate he has done it before. he knows where all the dead bodies are, and he will make good choices for his cabinet people and his state department people. he will pick good people. i trust trump. host: ok, antonio there. let's hear from louis in new jersey, independent line. caller: good morning.

host: hi. go ahead. caller: i would just cut to the chase. trump. i was wondering, did you guys cover about the american journalist that was murdered in ukraine last week by any chance? i had could have gotten him out but he didn't. without democracy, there is a perfect picture. dems that want free speech. he let that guy get beat up and murdered in the ukraine. host: let's go back to the former president, especially on today. why support for him? caller: because he is for democracy. he never went after generalists like obama did and biden is doing right now. he never went after the emails or computers like obama did, biden does. he did not set irs agent or fbi when people spoke against him.

that is why, pedro. host: ok, in new jersey. one of the other storylines playing out yesterday but not related to the caucuses but just to let you know that cbs and others are reporting a deal has been reached on a short-term funding bill that will avert a partial government shutdown according to congressional leaders sunday. it would fund the government through march 1 and march 8 according to statements from the house speaker mike johnson, chuck schumer, hakeem jeffries. the current funding deal would go into effect in november and funds the departments through generate 19 and others february 2. lastly, the house republicans achieved an approved topline agreement to complete the annual appropriations bill. he said -- mr. schumer said they will begin the process of continuing the resolution when it reconvenes this tuesday. so look to that to play out here in washington, d.c.

the iowa caucuses is our topic today, particularly as caucus voters will go to their various places across the state to participate. in oregon, independent line, this is kimberly. hello. caller: good morning. thank you for having me on. yeah, i just wanted to say about the i have a caucuses it is really hard -- the iowa caucuses it is really hard to make a decision when the corporate media and is not really tell the truth about anything for either side. and i just find it disturbing that when it comes to the ballot that they want to keep a person off the ballot. and that makes me think that they can't beat him. are they thinking they can't beat him? so the only other thing to do is get him off the ballot. that just does not seem to be democratic. and i think a lot of people are trump supporters everywhere because they don't like the process of what is going on and

how they are trying to get him off. it just makes me think they don't think they can beat him fair and square. so i hope that we get a little more truth out of the media on both sides so we can make an informed decision and not vote like sheep. host: what do you think keeps you from making an informed decision? caller: i just think it is what they see and what they hear from corporate media. it is slanted left. they spent four years going after trump. and i think if there is something he actually did wrong, they would have found it. they keep going after him, and they keep coming up empty. at some point, you have to go, well, look, if there is something there, they will find it. they spent millions and have not been able to put the noose on him, so it is like trying to take him off the ballot doesn't

seem fair because you cannot win any other way. host: jean in texas, republican line, next up. hello. caller: hello. my name is jean. thank you so much for taking me. man, i have heard a lot today. i am from texas. we are a crossover state. i am a staunch republican since i was 18. i will try to be quick. i originally lived in texas. crossover state. when it was hillary and obama, i crossed party lines because i did not want obama. i got hillary. found out i like obama, voted for him the second time around. next, ramaswamy talks way too fast. when somebody talks that fast, they are trying to brainwash you and are not listening to you. they are cutting you off and telling you to listen to me, shut up. that is disrespectful. trump and the bible. let's go back. host: can you tell me who you support as up-to-date when it comes to particularly on this caucus day?

who is the standout in your mind? caller: nikki haley. nikki haley. i was going to go for chris christie but he dropped out. darn. nikki haley. host: why nikki haley? caller: because she knows about national defense. i was international defense what i was 18 years old following world politics. she is the girl. host: when it comes to your support of chris christie, is that because he is the former governor of new jersey? caller: chris christie puts it on the line. i don't donald trump. he doesn't know me, but he has known a lot of people. i like chris christie and his thoughts on donald trump definitely are true. they speak to me. i know a lot about donald trump that people don't know. host: ok. jean in texas. robert in north carolina, democrats line. hi. robert in north carolina, hello? caller: hello. how are you doing?

host: fine, thank you. go ahead. caller: this is my opinion. all of this hush-hush, people are talking about all of this republicans and democrats. i will get straight to it. how can you take a liar, organized crime going to office to sit in the oval office and cause harm to the people? you will sit up there and so you will vote for a person who doesn't care about the people? only thing he cares about is his pockets and his organization. he doesn't care about anything. social security or they are taking medicaid for people -- from people that work for it all their lives. he had a silver spoon and is on national tv acting like he deserves to have a chance to be back in the white house when he did not deserve to have the chance the first time. he is no good.

he will be no good. and he will never be no good. he is dealing with people. that is my opinion. host: ok, robert, we believe that there. viewers, i will ask you to watch the language, especially if you will participate in the forum. one of the people making his final case for voters in iowa, governor ron desantis. he made a final pitch. here he is from yesterday. [video clip] >> not a single state is able to deliver the way we have in the state of florida. a great job. a couple of the republicans have done a great job i am proud that governor reynolds has endorsed me for president. but most of these republicans, they get in they don't follow through on what they said they would duplicate so with me, i am telling you you can set your clock to that. january 20, 2025, when the next president takes office, it will

be go time and we will move on all of these things because if we do anything less, we will not turn this country around. we need to do it. i contrast that. one of the things about donald trump, he ran in 2016. i went to his rallies and was excited. things like building the wall and mexico paying for it, that did not happen. draining a swap definitely did not happen. hillary was supposed to be held accountable. no. that was supposed to be reduced. it went up dramatically. on and on it goes with these issues. he is running out on the same stuff the second time around. so if he wasn't able to do with the first time, why would he be able to do it the second time? with me, we will go in and get all of this done. especially when you talk about the things the president can do unilaterally. you promised to do an executive order on the prices. all he had to do for four years

was set at the desk and signed but he did not do it. he is saying he would do at this time. i don't know. he had for years to sign it and he didn't do it. i think with me you can say he has an agenda and he is going to pursue that agenda. if i don't believe in something, i am not going to tell you i am going to do it. if i tell you i am going to do it, we are going to do it. i am also one who has beaten democrats on issue after issue. i am sick of these republicans. in washington, the democrats beat up on the budget almost every time. they are now beating us on immigration with this deal they are doing in the senate, which is basically validating the border surge in many respects. i thought we have been all over iowa, new hampshire, the country in the last nine months or six months. and i have not had one republican voter come up to me and say they want to see what happens with the senate

republicans are doing right now on immigration. not one boater has said that. every voter has said the opposite, that they want to see the border secured, that they want illegal aliens deported, that they want a portable, that they want to see the mexican drug cartel held accountable. that is what i see. these guys what less spending at all of this, and it is like lucy with the football. the same old song and dance. i represent a threat to business as usual in washington. i will not let them get away with that. they made promises to you as republicans and we will hold them to those promises. host: again, more speeches. if you want to see the last speeches from various candidates, you can go to our website, c-span.org. it is a federal holiday today commemorating dr. brother luther king junior. mlk day -- dr. martin luther

king jr.. mlk day is a national day of service. the a longitudinal survey about volunteerism and civic and gauge when in the united states. the survey shows the states with the highest form of volunteering with utah topping that in 2021 followed by wyoming, minnesota, maine, the district of columbia. it goes on from there. today, the national action network will host an mlk day breakfast talking about dr. king,'s legacy, what it means today. that breakfast will be shown around 8:30. if you want to see more of it, go to our website c-span.org for more information about the breakfast honoring dr. martin luther king jr. and find out more information on the website. gordon in wisconsin, republican line. caller: hello. host: hi. caller: i am a trump supporter.

i. don't know i watch -- i don't know, i watched c-span a lot but the majority of everything i hear, i will start calling it a trump hater network. you let people come missions against the ex-president as come on here and make accusations against the ex-president. they call him a rapist, nazi. they say bad vile things about him but he never asked for specifics. i am sick and tired of it. you have people calling up saying he did this and he did that and he is no good, he is part of the mafia, all of that. ask for some specifics. give some specifics. don't let them spew off all of this hatred crap over your network. host: as far as your support for the former president, why does that exist? why do you support him? caller: what is the matter with make america great again? anybody got a problem with that?

trump did it. he did the border. he did not take no crap off of foreign countries. nato, he told nato countries put up your money or we are not defending you anymore. he did all of that and got all kinds of money for the farmers from china. he did all of that stuff but yet they call up and say trump is really bad. he is not a christian. he is still walking around with the same bible his mother taught him on when he was a child. host: ok. caller: just because he doesn't go to church every day does not mean he is not a christian. host: john in pennsylvania, democrats line. hi. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i have one thing to say to the man from wisconsin. didn't he watch tv on january 6? ok. now getting back to the clown show in iowa. first of all, donald trump committed treason.

you coddles dictators and is not fit for office. you have the republicans on this big anti-immigrant thing. look at who is running for president for the republican party, an immigrant from cuba and an immigrant from india. now, folks, what is wrong? would people please wake up and turn off fox news? when i hear people say corporate media, corporate media -- it is because they are listening to fox news and newsmax. they are the most uninformed people in the world. they are undereducated. host: let's hear from claudia. claudia in alaska, independent line. hi. caller: hi. host: you are on. go ahead. caller: ok. thanks for the time.

i vote from my heart. and i think the caucus sets the tone, but what the heck has happened to our country? i mean, i'm never going to vote for trump, that is for sure. this guy is a crook. he set the tone for our country. all the backhanded that he did. we will be paying for years and years. alternative facts. i voted since i was 18, and i hold that very dear to my heart. i am almost 70 but the way my country is going, it is unreal. i am so deeply disappointed. i know freedom isn't free.

my dearly departed, a serviceman. everybody is fighting and nobody can do wrong and congress isn't doing anything. we are the laughing stock of the whole world. host: ok. republican died, rich in fort myers, florida. caller: hello. if i was in iowa, i would definitely be voting for nikki haley because she is the closest thing and the only normal republican left that comes close to that robbie or george bush -- to met romney or george bush. there is no other candidate out there that even comes close to her. host: what defines a normal republican? caller: the policies, the views. trump, i don't even know why the evangelicals are even paying any attention to trump. host: be more specific.

when you say normal policies, what do you mean? caller: abortion. trump's views on abortion in the 1990's and now, you don't flip your views that quickly over time. i don't even see how they could call him a republican. he is in his own party by himself. nikki haley actually is a conservative. so is desantis, though a little more out there. but yeah. host: in ohio, this is marie, democrats line. caller: hello, good morning. i am a conservative democrat, and i would vote for nikki haley if i was in iowa. i think trump is a detrimental danger to society. hello? host: would you vote for haley as a protest vote against former president trump, or would you

actually vote for her because you believe in things she believes in? caller: oh, i believe she would govern for all people. she is very strong, intelligent, and a normal person. and exrienced. host: ok. caller: hello? host: you are on still. caller: ok. and so i would have to vote democrat as biden. he had three years, a big mess to clean up, and i think he's doing a good job. a lot of the things that went down is because republicans are not working with him. host: you think republicans should have to hear more from candidates like robert f. kennedy, jr.? caller: i think kennedy is a pawn to steal from the democrats. host: ok.

let's hear from patrick. patrick in michigan, grand rapids, on our independent line. hi there. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i used to be and i human for quite a wild -- an iowan and i would support nikki haley strongly mostly because i like the message she has of being able to get along, especially herb she had of we don't need more chaos. that impressed me a lot. also, she is supportive of veterans. her own family represents the support for our military. that means a lot to me as well. overall, i think she is a levelheaded person i can support. host: one more call, and this will be from stephen south carolina of a republican line. caller: the morning, pedro. have not talked to you for a long time so happy new year and good morning to you. martin luther king day, it is

today. need to remember that good i am not independent. i voted for trump and 2020 because of the ill treatment he received from day one after being in office. my pick would be desantis. i look at florida. florida is like a microcosm of the entire country. a big populated state. every race, color, creed, national origin. people love it there. it is business friendly, tax friendly, and they love desantis . you saw what he did in the last governor's election. i think he can pull the country together. listen. trump, he is just -- we will be divided from day one. but the claims of fascism from trump, imagine this conversation by two immigrants that came up from but as we left.

hey, did you see what they did to trump in maine and colorado? yeah, this like elections back home, right? just eliminate the competition and you don't have to worry about it. that is how we are as a country under democratic rule, and we need to get away from that. host: he finishes off this hour of your calls on caucus day. our coverage starts at 7:30 today. you will hear results, speeches, get a comment on the process as it plays out. follow along and our main network, c-span, our app, c-span now, the website, c-span.com. during the course of the morning, we would hear from surrogates of the campaign talking about where polling stands on this i caucus day. we have represented boston humus that will discuss support for nikki haley. later

first, a snapshot from iowa, nearly every gop candidate in the state reject an offer to take part in the oldest minority focused form which was set to happen this weekend. the organizer spoke with us about the issues i had of the carcasses that coincide with martin luther king's birthday. >> our four pillars are immigration, criminal justice, health, education and economic development. you can read about it and it's documented. we've done these things for the past half-century. from jesse jackson to the present. >> the population is over 3 million people in iowa. we are the fifth whitest state in america. without a minority population, it's a very small percentage. we started the brown and black in 1984 b because we didn't have the numbers.

jimmy carter came to us and got involved in our caucus. the rest is history. we tell people we wouldn't care if there was one latino or one black in the state of iowa, our goal was to say we got minorities who live in the state of iowa and we want our views to be heard. no presidential candidates talk about slavery, civil rights, we've got book bands, education is being changed come affirmative action. this is the first time in the history of this country when all of the issues are coming together and republican candidates are talking about it. that's symbolic. we thought the best chance we had in years for the republican party to come in and the candidates do their thing tonight. that did not happen.

we are disappointed. >> it's a great day because we will have a tribute to a great man of this country. i'm really pleased that people will speak about martin luther king jr.. there are latinos that are republican. even in my own family there were some republicans and there still is. we are all for the good of the people. it has to be something that will benefit all of us, not just a select few. that's what i want. something for everyone, not just a select few. >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span's voices 2024 as we engage voters nationwide. we asked what issue is most important to you in this election and why. >> i'm from denver, colorado and

the most important issue for me in this election cycle would have to be climate change. there are a lot of issues i'm passionate about but i think they need to be addressed and climate change is something that's affecting the whole world. it's something my generation will have to live with for a long time. >> i'm from cincinnati, ohio. the issue most important to me this election is transparency in government. i believe the government is at its core meant to be for the people and everything they do should be public knowledge. that will definitely be very important in deciding a candidate to vote for. >> the most important issue in this election is unity, someone that can bring the country together rather than create the divisiveness. i don't want people to be afraid or paranoid. i want them to come together and have a rational discussion. >> the top issue for me in this

election cycle is going to be the economy and inflation. i'm a student so gas prices and inflation are huge and wages going up and it's important we get that under control and keep the economic prosperity as a top issue for all of us. >> c-span's voices 2024, be a part of the conversation. host: our coverage of the iowa caucuses continues with tear gas from iowa, austin harris is and i was state representative. he is also a nikki haley campaign supporter and a member of the farmers for nikki coalition. thanks for giving us your time this morning. guest: thanks for having me. host: can you start by how you became a supporter of nikki haley but how you ended up helping her campaign? guest: yeah, nikki haley is somebody i've followed for a long time from her rise to being

governor of south carolina to her career at the united nations. she is somebody i've been impressed with, somebody who i thought should be a leader in our party but especially when i got to know her more and she came to iowa more frequently over the years. i really got to sear up close to measure who she is and what she has to offer. i got on board early. i think i was the first state official in iowa to endorse her in february of last year and have been fairly active in the campaign, doing mediator views and going to events and whatnot, doing everything i can to make her the next president of the united states. host: because of the polling, she is currently expected to run in second place. if that is the case, what do you attribute that to? guest: just hard work and grit,

someone who crisscrossed the state. she has talked to iowans and done at the old-fashioned way, going to where people are at and talking with them and telling them the truth but also laying at a positive vision for this country and where she wants to take it. that work is being rewarded. we see that here in highwood but in new hampshire and south carolina as well where her numbers are on the rise. i think this is somebody you has a unique ability to connect with iowans and voters. we will see what happens tonight. host: when people talk about whether what's expected in iowa, what do you think about the reaction and what to the average eye when think about what's being said? guest: we look at the weather and we iowans are tough. there is a lot of snow on the ground but we are not snowflakes. we know how to handle this weather but we want to make sure people are not putting themselves in harm's way. we want people to take precautions.

we've been telling supporters want to go to the caucus to be sure to start your car early, let it warm up, where an extra layer of clothing, get to the caucus early. a lot of these caucuses will check people in around 6:30 p.m. so i wouldn't wait to get there and have a line outside. we want people to take this seriously but we also want to make sure they take advantage of this unique opportunity we have in this state. we only get to do this every four years and sometimes only eight years. let's not mess this up. host: is there a mechanism built into get people to the caucus site tonight? guest: yeah, her campaign is in constant contact with supporters making sure they have all the information they need. we have volunteers who are willing to the polls and make sure they are safe tonight. host: our guest with us until 8:30 a.m., representing nikki haley. if you want to ask them

questions about the candidate and his support, (202) 748-8000 democrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8002 independents. for i voters, (202) 748-8003 -- four iowa voters. according to that pole, even though the governor, the former governor is enjoying the second place, one thing they talked about was the enthusiasm for her. they highlighted this saying 32% of likely republican caucus-goers say they are truly enthusiastic about caucusing for their first choice candidate but not enthusiastic about that when it comes to nikki haley. when it comes to being mildly enthusiastic, 40 9% of those are expressing that sentiment. -- 49% of those are expressing that sentiment. what do you think about those numbers? guest: i'm not worried about that at all.

when i was at the event last night with her in the final event this caucus season, the excitement was palpable in the room. that's what we've seen across the state and especially in the last month or so. we seen the poll numbers rise in the momentum gaining so this is somebody i think excites her voters and attract people to them. we've seen that the events are not worried about the enthusiasm quotient. host: one criticism is that she is not -- it was in iowa leaving to the days of today and these ads, this is one from ron desantis and this is about your candidate. [video clip] >> here's what wall street funded nikki haley said in new hampshire. >> iowa starts it, you corrected. >> she disparages the caucuses. it's ron desantis who embodies and defends i was values of faith, family and freedom. he is tirelessly working to earn

your support. >> donald trump is running for his issues, nikki haley is running for her donors issues, i'm running for your issues. i'm ron desantis and i approve this message. host: i'm sure you've seen that along with everyone else. what do you think? guest: i've seen a couple of times but i think this is indicative of the type of campaign that ron desantis is running. i can understand why. this is something -- somebody went to all 99 counties in iowa and bragged about his ground game. i have seen little reward so far. the des moines register poll had him in third place. he's going to run i campaign that's taking things out of context and that are not true. there was a clip from a joke she made in new hampshire. iowans don't get offended easily. i would recommend to governor desantis to spend less money on private flights and more money on buying a sense of humor. host: he said in one of those

debates last week that he described her as a mealy mouth politician and said she will say and it into get a vote and do her donors bidding. what is that in reference to? guest: it's hard to tell. this is somebody who's been saying a lot of things. none of it is really true at all. he's been slipping in iowa ends has failed to gain traction. desperate people do desperate things at the last second. i think iowans will be able to see right through it. host: austin harris joining us on our coverage of the iowa caucus. let's hear from an iowa viewer, shannon in waterloo, independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning, representative. i have a question about district 26. it's less than about 10,000 people who voted for you within that district. why do they have you on here if

you represent less than 1% of iowans? i want to know what is the largest city within that district? i'm from waterloo so we usually don't really have the representative we need to have. how do you feel about school choice in our schools? guest: host: if you want to reference that to your support to nikki haley, go ahead. guest: we have 100 state representatives that represent about 32,000 people altogether. when it comes to school choice, i've been a supporter of that as well. tonight, we will focus on the caucuses and the future of the country. we have somebody in nikki haley why think is well prepared to do the job. she has the experience, the leadership and the backbone. i think she has also demonstrated an ability that the other candidates have not been able to to bring this country together.

they talk about putting the chaos and drama in the past and a lot of our i ones and americans are hungry for somebody -- iowans and americans are hungry for somebody who can unite this country. i hope iowans see that tonight. host: as i understand it, used to work in the trump administration at the department of agriculture. can you describe what you did and then as a promoter of someone other than the president? guest: i voted for the president twice. i actually work for him twice both on his campaign and at the u.s. department of agriculture is part of his post transition team in 2017. i did a lot of work there we helped with that post transition, making sure we got the right people in the right positions and being the eyes and ears for the white house inside the usda. it was a great experience and i appreciate it and i've nothing

against the former president. i thought he was the right present at the right time but i think times have changed. i think we need somebody who can unite this country and bring people together and that's why i'm for nikki haley. host: when you say times have changed, when did you know you were going to change her mind about a candidate and what drove you to that? guest: you look at the crisis on the southern border which is unprecedented, millions of people are pouring across into her country. we see war in europe, or in the middle east, record high inflation, dysfunction in washington has never been worse. we need somebody who will have strong, steady leadership at the helm in the white house. i think that's nikki haley. i have nothing against the former president at all. i thought he did a good job when he was in there but whether people think it's right or not, chaos follows him. i don't think we can fix

democratic chaos with republican chaos. host: are you surprised by the lead the former president in the polls that he has in iowa? guest: i think it's obvious he's going into night with a strong showing with big expectations. iowans love to give a good surprise we will see what happens. host: when it comes to nikki haley yourself come you talked about immigration. if you had to boil it down, what's her stand on immigration what do you think will be different about her than other candidates and what they are proposing? guest: she is axley going to get the job done. we will not just finish the wall on the southern border but we will add 25,000 new border agents as well, work with our partners in the region as well to stop the flow. what's happening on the southern border is a crisis and she's one of the few candidates that have gotten down to the border and traveled several hundred miles and met with border agents and

heard them directly about what issues they are facing and what they think the solution is. i think this is somebody when she was governor of south carolina was able to pass e-verify. it's someone who has a long record of being strong on this issue and having a backbone and getting results. host: (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8002 independents and iowa voters, >> (202) 748-8003. michigan, republican line, this is chris. caller: good morning, how are you both? host: fine, thank you, go ahead. caller: i would like to ask your guest -- you worked for donald trump. do you think he protected the

border good? he did a good job. there was very few people coming through the border. when he was president, he helped with pro-life, he is a pro-life president, the strongest pro-life president we ever had in the history of this country. he had for peace treaties with four middle eastern nations. with israel. he is the only president who has ever done that. what has -- what will nikki haley do when she's in the white house with israel and the palestinian situation? host: let's expand that as far as her approach to foreign policy? how would you describe nikki haley's approach? guest: i think she believes a lot and what ronald reagan believed as well which is strength. you look at her time as

ambassador of the united nations and its somebody had a backbone of steel. she made sure our allies knew we were with them and that our enemies knew we were coming for them. she was able to work with countries to help put sanctions in -- and pressure on north korea. this assembly work closely with israel and other countries. one of the few countries to have israel's back at the united nations. she has also been pushing the palestinian people to agree to a two state solution. i think a record speaks for itself and somebody made america proud on the world stage and made us feel proud again. i think she will bring that back with her to the white house. host: carla in new york, democrats line, hello. caller: hi, how are you? at a recent town hall, nikki haley said she wanted government to be not involved in people's lives.

why is she a pro-life candidate? i can't think of a single issue where government should be less involved in people's lives. there have been complicated issues with women with difficult pregnancies and these women can't get an abortion when clearly it's a health right. i feel she is denying that. my other question is, she says she wants to raise the social security age. exactly what age would that be? i'm 65 and since i'm still working, i get a statement from social security every year and it's implied that i work until 70 because i would get more money. i can't even imagine if i was in my 20's what age would that be? would be 70, 75? would it be in perpetuity? thank you very much. host: mr. harris. guest: to answer the last question first, nikki haley, ambassador haley has talked about needing to do reform when it comes of those type of

entitlement programs. obviously, the age of 65 was set in place a long time ago and life expectancy has far exceeded that we don't have the workers to keep up with social security and other entitlements as is. she promises that this will not be paid for on the back of people who are close to retirement. my generation would have to see those type of reforms. the answer to the first question , nikki haley is unapologetically pro-life. she was april like governor. -- she was a pro-life governor. she is pro-life because she is experienced in those type of issues having her own pregnancies as well. she has also talked about that on the federal level. we have to be honest with the american people. we cannot make promises we know we can't keep. we have a 60 vote threshold in the u.s. senate.

we have not had 60 pro-life senators ever. we may have 45 or 46 or 47. what can we do to stop demonizing this issue and bring people together on it? she wants to work across the aisle and bring republicans and democrats together to make sure we have good childcare options, make sure we have good maternal health care options as well, but also ensure we are not allowing late-term abortions. this is an issue that democrats and republicans can come together on. it will also unite people around this issue. host: as far as late-term abortion, has she scoped out a timeframe of what that would look like if she had any influence over it? guest: i'm not specific on that but this is somebody wants to bring the country together around this issue and stop demonizing it and try to get something done in washington around it. host: this is from.

, pennsylvania, independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to ask your guest -- first of all, it's nice to see that a political party has some competition unlike the democrats. the biden machine is just trashing every candidate that comes along. rfk junior, i listened to dean phillips the other day on the radio and boy, that guy made a lot of sense for the democratic party. years ago, i was a democrat until the democratic party left me. i'm hoping that donald trump gets the nomination and that him and governor haley sit down together and have a peace conference and he picks her as his vice president. that's what i'm hoping would be

best for the country. one thing that disturbed me, the other day when the president of the united states goes to a black church in charleston, south carolina and makes a political speech with that being the backdrop for these poor people who were murdered and at the same time, i remember there was a clip and you can bring it up of joe biden saying if you ain't black, if you don't vote for me, you went black. host: we got the point. to his original point, the possibility of nikki haley reaching out to former president to talk about issues should she not become the party nominee. guest: she has been asked that question several times. she just hasn't gone there to answer it not because she is trying to evade it but trying not to play into the hands of ron desantis and's race. this is somebody was running for

president and be the president of the united states, not the vice president. she doesn't run for second. the reason why she's surging in iowa and new hampshire in north carolina is to be the nominee for president. host: you have a background as a farmer and you are part of this farmers for nikki coalition. what is it about agriculture and farm policy you support and how does that differ from the former president? mr. harris? one more time for mr. harris. we are trying to reestablish the connection to our des moines studio. until then, we will continue with your calls. north carolina, democrats line, nathaniel, go ahead. caller: yes,. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i was just looking at c-span this morning and i was

seeing this guy austin harris talk about nikki haley. she did some things -- i live in mississippi but i watch c-span. her, ron desantis, he wanted to take all these books out of the library and that will hurt him more than anything. what will hurt her she wants to raise retirement until 70 years old. it doesn't make any sense. all them worked for trump. host: let's hear from matthew in new york, democrats line. caller: yes, shame we've lost our boy there. i had some really important things i really need to discuss with him. number one is i do not believe government intrusion into how a woman conducts her medical issues.

i think that's between her and her doctor and nikki haley can be pro-life all she wants but i do not believe the government has a say in how a woman deals with her medical issues. that's number one. they call themselves pro-life but why is it that after a child is born, i think it's been like 16 republican governors are cutting childcare credits in their state. and any kind of food assistance to poor kids. you have to be born, republicans demand you be born but not fat afterwards? host: thanks for the call. mr. harris, can you hear us? guest: i can. host: wonderful, thank you. apologies for that. let's go back to a car, i don't know if you heard the caller who elaborated on the discussion on

abortion as far as what happens after a baby is born and post care for that baby. where the candidate -- where does the candidate stand on that? guest: we have to be pro-life not just when the baby is in the womb but outside as well. we have to make sure they have good health care and a good education and good economic opportunities as well for the parents and especially the mother. the record nikki haley has in south carolina's what she's proposing to do in terms of bringing people together on this issue on a federal level. she does believe this is a states rights issue. we have seen some states become more pro-choice. i don't agree with that at all. we have seen some states become more pro-life. here in iowa, our governor has opposed a mom's bill that has a lot on these issues and expands access to contraceptives and make sure there is good maternal care, health care options and childcare options as well.

host: melissa in bloomfield, iowa, independent line. hello. caller: hi, thanks for taking my call. hi, austin. i haven't issue with nikki haley because to me, with her being in the u.n. and everything and how she talks about ukraine and israel and everything going on over there, to me, she sounds like a warmonger and i'm not interested in any more wars. the only candidate that talks about not wanting to be in any other wars is eithervivik or trump. i think a really good ticket that would bring this country together would be trump and kennedy. i really think that would be a great ticket, what do you think? guest: thanks for calling. you're a constituent of mine and i don't live too far from bloomfield so thank you for your question.

i will support whoever the republican nominee is that i will caucus for nikki haley tonight. as someone who knows her personally and as listen to her several times, she's not interested in starting a war, she's interested in preventing a war. her husband is deployed overseas right now. of course you wouldn't want her husband to ploy or in a conflict that was not necessary. you can rest assure she's not interested in starting a war. host: i did ask you as far as farm policy and your support for former governor haley and what she brings when it comes to farm policy. we had of viewer he asked about the previous president about the former president's tariffs and whether that was a good thing for farmers. if you can elaborate on those fronts? guest: she has talked a lot about supporting the fuel standards specially corn farmers

in iowa to make sure we can produce ethanol and take it to the market as well as part of the energy security and energy dominance. she has also talked about making sure to get the government off the farmers backs and talked about being able to take on china, not just on trade but internet -- but intellectual-property as well. not just being reliant on china. i've been with her where she's with farmers. she's driven a combine and loved the experience. i had a chance to sit down and talk with farmers and hear directly from them. this is somebody who listens and will get the job done. host: let's take one more call from chris in virginia, democrats line. hello. caller: yes, mr. harris, we will stick with president biden and kamala harris. they will finish the job and we will see what goes on after that. have a nice day. host: make the case as far as

your candidate versus the former president or the current president i should say. guest: absolutely, that's the opinion of the caller. this is somebody who can unite this country. i believe nikki haley is the right person at the right time. we cannot have more chaos and drama. we have to bring this country together, we have to leave the baggage behind us we have a lot of big issues facing this country right now. the border, bring down inflation, restoring the economy and projecting strength and stability around the world. i have no doubt in my mind that nikki haley is that person. i hope people get out tonight and vote for her. host: austin harris serves as the state representative in iowa and is also a campaign supporter of nikki haley joining us for this conversation on our coverage of the iowa caucuses. thanks for coming out in the cold for us and thanks for participating. guest: thanks for having me. host: we were expecting to hear from a representative that some campaign but that person has cancel.

later on in the program, we will hear from the family leader president and ceo who will discuss his support for governor desantis and how evangelicals will factor in to voting in this year's iowa caucus. for the next half hour, your calls on the caucuseif you want to participate in make your thoughts known, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans, and indnts (202) 748-8002. for iowa voters, if you want to participate as you might caucus today, (202) 748-8003. here is more from yesterday as their camera has been traveling around iowa. we were able to catch up with many people up there. let's take a listen to one iowan who explains his support for nikki haley. >> tell me your name. >> susan. >> where you're from? >> west des moines, iowa. >> how may times have you heard

nikki haley speak? >> three. >> which one did you get the most out of? >> i like tonight. they are very similar. she has the same message of course but tonight she threw in some extra things that i really appreciated. >> what was the extra tonight? >> i'm trying to think -- oh, i love having congress have the same health care that our veterans have. my gosh. they get screwed on health care. >> is that a message that will resonate? >> i certainly hope so. >> how much attention to you just do you pay to the polls? donald trump is up by a lot. >> that's true but never give up, never give up. i look at it but i say i will keep working. i will keep going for what i believe in.

it took me a while. i listened to this debate and there are new people i didn't know. i wanted to listen and find out for myself who i will choose. one thing i came back to is i remember seeing two clips of her in the u.n. speaking. she was strong, confident and always standing up for america. she has respect for other countries and i thought she is our gal. >> you remember when you knew you were a nikki haley supporter? >> when she was in the you and i would see her on the news speaking before the you and that's one night -- before the u.n.. that's when i know. >> how do you think the weather will influence you tomorrow with people coming out to vote? >> we are iowans. this is iowa in this is what we can expect. just like tonight, look at the people who are here.

this was not a large and a venue and we could have had twice as many people. the road was packed. people did not get in. there is energy here tonight and that's why i say you don't give up. we are behind donald trump but i don't care. we will keep fighting to get where we want to be. >> thank you for your time. >> c-span's campaign 2024 coverage continues. what's live on the c-span networks as the first votes in the country are cast in the upcoming presidential election along with candidate speeches and results beginning with the iowa caucus on january 15 and the new hampshire primary january 23. campaign 2024 on c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. "washington journal" continues..

host: we continue on with our coverage of the iowa caucuses that take place tonight at 7:00 iowa time. you can see those results starting at 730 on our main channel, c-span and not only can speeches but results. we will get analysis and you can call and make your comments as well. this is the starting process of the nomination process. if you want to call and give your thoughts on the caucus, (202) 748-8000 four democrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans and independents (202) 748-8002. for those iowa voters in the audience, (202) 748-8003 is how you can reach out to us. you can text if you want as well as that same number. this iowa caucus coverage, philadelphia, pennsylvania, independent line, horace go ahead. caller: good morning.

you are on, go ahead. caller: good morning, young man. host: you're on the air, go ahead with your question or comment. caller: can you hear me? host: i can, go ahead. caller: on the 66 year old black man and i voted for a long, long time. i've always voted democrat. i consider myself as a fair-minded man. i have never seen the republican party the way it's been. i can see and hear all they preach is what they don't like. it's what they hates. they want women to sacrifice their bodies and put themselves in danger to have a baby.

they go down the line with hate. they take books off the shelves and schools and stuff. i've never seen anything like it in my life. and about all else, what strikes me to the core is why in the world would you want a man like donald trump to be president again? it makes no sense. host: let's hear from bradley in texas, independent line. caller: good morning, c-span. i like to point out the fact that nikki haley does not go by her full name, her god-given name and she does not talk about her religion. this far as your background goes. she doesn't run her governorship

as governor of south carolina. as far as being conservative, she is not conservative. that's my take on it. host: give me a specific reason. caller: for one, new hampshire is not a conservative state and she's catered to them exclusively. as far as foreign policy, she's willing to go all in for ukraine and spending and she's willing to spend. she is in bed with the military-industrial complex. host: from idaho, this is beverly, independent line, good morning. caller: hi, good morning to you. host: you're on, go ahead. caller: i just want to state that when trump was president, you generally run the first couple of years off the economy

from the president before you which is what happened and then covid hit. i'm not sure i understand why people think tru w economy. look what is happening with congress today. they call him and he gives his input and it's a big mess and gets nothing done. i'm not crazy about either party at the moment. i feel if somebody comes out as an independent, that's who i will probably support of the republicans running now, nikki haley would be my choice. host: ok, this is our coverage of the iowa caucus as they take place today and you can talk about the caucus process and people involved. let's go to patrick in south carolina, democrats line. caller: good morning and thank you for allowing me to speak this morning. a lot of your listeners are

talking about nikki haley. for every south carolinian, nikki haley would be the last person we would vote for. she refused to extend medicaid. she signed legislation that you can sue the state up to $600,000 and there was an incident that happened that involved a six-year-old young man who was killed and several others were hurt. doing so, they had to pass special legislation just to pay medical bills for these individuals. $12.5 billion was lost. they started a nuclear power plant and got up to $9 billion and they stopped and no one was held accountable. we carried three point $5 billion in the treasury report for years. the only reason she removed the confederate flag from the top of the state capital was the incident that happened.

i have problems even with the democrats although i vote democrat. i just have to hold my nose and vote democrat. thank you for allowing me to speak this morning. host: virginia, republican line, doug. caller: the only problem i have as you were talking earlier about the entitlements of social security, i wish everyone including the monitor and your guest with understand that social security is not an entitlement. i have paid into social security every job since i was 18 years old. an entitlement is welfare. if you want to get rid of social security, return all the money i have paid for 70 something years into social security and then you can call them entitlements. that is not -- medicare is not an entitlement, medicaid is. host: when it comes back to the caucuses with govern -- with governor desantis yesterday, he talked about the events and

plans for his campaign carrying on from tonight. here is a portion of that interview. [video clip] >> the campaign has focused attention and millions of dollars into iowa and you visited 99 counties and you spend most of your time as a candidate there. last month you said you will win in iowa but what happens if you finish third? is that the end of your campaign? >> happy 15th anniversary and thanks for having me on. we will do well on monday. our voters are very motivated. i think it's hard to poll in iowa caucus, the 20 paul was not accurate but it's -20 degrees of these people are motivated. our voters are very motivated. we have spent a lot of time and i will because were going door-to-door getting people to commit that people are committed to caucus and these are the people that turn it and there is a lot of excitement on the

ground. we are in this for the long haul and we understand you have to win a majority of the delegates we understand there is a long process here. we will do well because we've done it right and our folks will turn out. i think anyone that tells you they can model exactly who will turn out in the broader electorate, it's an unknowable. with our folks, they are committed and will be there and we will have a good night. >> no matter your results tomorrow night, you are in the race and onto new hampshire and south carolina and onto nevada? >> in fact, the day after, we will do a townhome -- a town hall on cnn and some events in south carolina and we will get to know that at some point. i am participating in the caucus against donald trump. nikki haley is not so she can't win any delegates in nevada. if you are in it to win it, you have to compete for every single delegate. specially when you have the proportional, you have to be out there so we will be out there

winning delegates in nevada as well. host: one of the storylines into tonight is the weather the state is expected to experience. the new york times says it's frozen gas pumps installed car as 18 wheelers jackknifed on the highways underscores the risky weather conditions. those are things to look out for for tonight.

michigan, independent line on this caucus day in iowa, go ahead. caller: uplifting martin luther king and his work in spirit and speaking of dr. king, how can the people in iowa allow this slugfest to happen on a day that we commemorate him and honor him? said people there. as a black man come i wouldn't go for trump, biden, haley and desantis, especially desantis once to erase every piece of martin luther king's legacy. they want to be white supremacists and is very telling what kind of world and country we live in today. host: that's roland in michigan. let's hear from joe in north carolina, republican line.

caller: good morning, pedro. the world is in a mess in the country is in a mess we don't need someone to take over and learn on the job. now is the time to bring trump back because he knows what is doing. he did before -- he did it before. host: mr. trump was a beginner at one point though. caller: no, desantis and nikki haley are good for running states but not for the whole world. that's the big stage. trump did it before and we had peace with him. the withdrawal from afghanistan started this whole thing. if covid had not come in, trump

would be finishing right now his second term. host: let me follow up on something you said, why wouldn't experience in a governorship not qualify people to run the whole country? caller: not the country, no,. host: but why not. caller: when you are in there, you are learning a lot. trump did it already. there is no time for learning on the job right now. both of them could be vice president's and learn on the job , learn what's going on in the whole world to deal with china, north korea and everybody else. host: let's hear from ben in florida, democrats line. caller: i can't understand, i cannot understand why anybody

would vote for trump. he increased the deficit by $7 trillion. he promised he was going to build a wall and he didn't. he promised mexico would pay for it, they didn't. he has many, many indictments. he certainly has been involved with the insurrection on january 6. he has so many numerous imperfections. i think even the video, i thin it was, anyway it was a video where he talked about touching women. i think the democrats should advertise these things much more. my question to you is, why are the democrats not attacking the

truth about the awfulness of trump? thank you. host: republican line, ruby in virginia, go ahead. caller: my name is ruby beckett. i did like donald trump. when he started hurting those kids, the poor little kids and put them in a cage like an animal in the world went to an end. he was doing good and i did like him. but when he started hurting young kids didn't have no food, p they wasissy and everything else. i don't know if a lot of people don't like biden but biden tried to help everybody. he didn't care black or white around the world. he went there. all them people that donald

trump was hanging room within the office, they know what donald trump has done but why didn't they try to stop him? host: that's ruby in virginia. not only did governor desantis appear in the sunday shows but former governor nikki haley was on fox yesterday. she talked about the iowa poll in which she placed second what that meant for her and the rest of her campaign. here is a portion of that conversation. [video clip] >> it's got you in second place and that matches the poll that came out a couple of days ago. you have careful mctations here. do you feel this second-place placed wrongful showing puts a target on your back? does he give you expectations that if you don't hit second place it will be seen at a loss? >> we've always had a target on her back because we've always been going up and everyone's going on. the real thing is caucus day we want to come out of i will looking strong and out of new hampshire strong and out of south carolina strong.

this is continuing state-by-state and trying to get every single boat we can. we will not stop until that last second. >> let's talk about inside the des moines pole. there is information about enthusiasm. 49% of those were enthusiastic about president trump but when the same question was put to your supporters, 9% said they were enthusiastic. given the weather situation and the issues and enthusiasm, do you worry it could impact how you finished? >> i'm not a political pulser and i will not worry about the numbers. the momentum and the energy on the ground is strong. on. the only numbers that matter to me are the ones that are going up and everybody else went down in the shows we are doing the right thing. i think i once will decide tomorrow. we are excited that tomorrow is the day and it's go time and we will crisscross the state. we've done that for days now and

will keep doing it and i think the intensity will show tomorrow. host: here is susan in oklahoma, independent line. caller: i meant to dial in on the republican line, i'm sorry. host: i will ask you to call back in and there's a few minutes left to call back in on the republican line. kathy and run out island, read -- in rhode island, republican line. caller: the one issue i want to bring up is the abortion issue. republicans are considered and site legal abortion. -- are considered anti-legal abortion. the supreme court did not reject roe v. wade but they just moved it to the states. the issue of asking the republican candidates with their view on abortion, the view is abortion is legal. it's legal in every state. i don't you're anyone saying they are going to change that.

they may have a point of view in terms of when is abortion limited. we are talking about abortion on demand. ruling is about abortion on demand, not if a mother's life is at risk or any other horrible subject. abortion on demand is legal and is now up to the states to determine what the culture in the state, with the ethics in the state bar. host: that said come as far as abortion policy for the republican candidates, which do you align closely with? caller: like i said, go ron gives conservative. how he limits it to five weeks. roe v. wade was limited to the first three months. i'm thinking this would be something i could legally live with. it needs to be legal because there are circumstances that are involved that would be much easier for the subject if abortion was legal.

i don't think any republican i know is arguing that. host: let's hear from james in north carolina, democrats line. caller: how are you doing? all the republicans that call in, they are not worthy to run for president or any office in this country. the reason why i say the is they are destroying and dividing this country to a state where people cannot even think straight about the political process. i heard a north carolinian come on a few minutes ago talking about donald trump policies. what policy did donald trump and act at the time he was president? i've been looking and i haven't found any. he ran four years on president obama's policies. that's what he ran on.

that's why it looked like he was doing a good job. the only thing he did was to pass high -- the high tax burden on low income people by passing tax breaks for the rich millionaires. thank you. host: jonah in california, independent line, hello. let's hear from georgia in sun city california. caller: good morning. i wanted to remind everyone that when biden ran, the first thing that came out of his mouth, i will never forget it because it shocked me, how he said that america is not going to be first, it will be last and he meant it. from what i'm seeing, we are losing everything we've ever had. we are losing our border. we don't have a border anymore. we don't hardly have a country anymore. we don't have any police that will stand for us.

our military is practically gone. things just aren't the same. i would vote for trump again, i would. he had our country in order. he had people in line, other countries in line we never had before. i just like him a lot more. he didn't take a bunch of guff off of people. host: one more call from michigan, independent line. caller: hi, good morning. i'm a little disgusted with america right now. democrats and republicans but i'm listening to these people want to know what planet they are on. trump came in here and nearly destroyed this country and went over to other countries and a lot of folks are just crazy. we take a look at nikki haley and what she's done in south carolina, she didn't even know why the confederate were restarted really. you have ron desantis wants to ruin florida.

he hates disney and then you have all the other folks that are just joint -- doing a terrible job. let's come together and get rid of the hate. it's killing this country. the weight they are sending immigrants to all the cities, we are better than that. host: that's finishing off this round of calls on this iowa caucus day. it's at at 7:30, you can see the main caucuses. you will get a chance to call in and see the reaction from tonight, particularly as we find out who will win the iowa caucuses later this evening. we were supposed to be joined by a member of the trump campaign to talk about their efforts in iowa. that segment is canceled, as far as them showing up.

but we will continue on with the conversation looking at evangelical and other topics related to that with family leader preside and ceo bob vander plaats. j. ann selzer will break down the latest polling you have probably seen the last few days, taking a look at the iowa caucuses. we will have her later in the program. c-span cameras in and around iowa to capture the sights and sounds leading up to this caucus day. we had a chance to hear from the curator at the state's historical museum. [video clip] >> in 1972, that campaign was focusing on senator, this -- the senator that had been he vice presidential candidate for the

democrats. senator mcgovern had a campaign staffer who would become a senator from colorado. they said iowa is much like south dakota in some ways, we will make a strong campaign in iowa. so george mcgovern had come to iowa, planned to come to iowa in the summer of 1975. much like we have candidate visits in iowa today, senator mcgovern -- mcgovern was looking for ways to build support even when we were not considered an important stopping point. the senator was planning to do well and get better than 50%. mcgovern is not beat him but shows he has a good message and organization. that leads to senator mcgovern getting the nomination in 1972. that sets the stage for future

campaigns in the state of iowa. this is the first time where the iowa republican party says it worked well for the democrats in 1972. in 1976, the iowa republican committee set there caucus date to be the same as the democrats. while you have a sitting president and gerald ford, he has not been elected. he is being challenged by ronald reagan who hopes to win the nomination or wants to have a good showing and build a network for 1980. on the democratic side, jimmy carter, one of the 1976 candidates on the democratic side, he has been coming to iowa since february of 1975. he goes to an event in northwest iowa in plymouth county. he starts launching his campaign, much like many candidates today, early on.

the carter campaign of 1976 shows iowa gives the course to a candidate to win the nomination and the presidency. another really important campaign when you talk about the early history and the role the iowa caucuses have played. we do not feel like we pick the president or the nominee. we show who has a good organization. we show who is a viable candidate and who has great messages. >> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right hand side of the screen when you hit "play" on select videos. this tool makes it easy to get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a

few minutes on c-span's point of interest -- points of interest. host: our next guest is bob vander plaats, president and ceo of the family leader, also a supporter of the desantis campaign. thanks for giving us your time from iowa. guest: thank you for having me. i all that c-span does. host: remind folks of your organization and what you are involved in. guest: the mission is to inspire the church to engage government to advance god's kingdom and to strengthen the family. currently, we have about 2700 pastors in the state of iowa alone, 2400 churches plugged into our ministry. we represent a wide swath of evangelicals in iowa. right now our footprint is also in 18 states. god has blessed us tremendously

and we are thrilled to do what we do. host: what does organization do around these cycles when it comes to presidential elections? guest: we look at who is running for president. we try to introduce them to our base and our base to them. we have a right road -- front row seat. we want to steward that responsibility well and see who is best prepared to be a minister of god. we believe government is an instrument of god and those who serve are called to be his ministers. we are looking for a servant leader, a shepherd, someone who is capable, trustworthy, and fears god. host: does organization formally endorse? guest: our organization is not formally endorse. as the leader of the ministry, to weigh in on what we saw. these candidates have been in my home, our offices, they have

attended our events. we have had a lot of time to get to know who these candidates are pretty i endorse this is what i saw and this is who i will be with. host: you made news about your support for governor desantis and his campaign. can you talk about what led you to that decision? guest: he captured my attention when he won reelection in florida. he did it after bold and conservative leadership, whether the sanctity of human life, parental rights, school choice, taking on covid. as well as taking on the woke agenda in the schools and companies like disney. getting to know him throughout the caucus process and then at the thanksgiving family form when i asked him the question about why not just wait your

turn and back trump, he said this country cannot wait for me to wait my turn. he laid out the reasons why he thought the president had the highest hurdles of winning again, the former president, and how he could win, how he won in florida, how he would lead from day one defending this country versus defending himself, and then being able to serve two terms. i thought he articulated so well that as soon as he finished i had my mind made up that would be the guy i support. host: when you made that decision for the constituents you represent, what was the reaction, particularly for those supporting the former president? guest: i think because of the years doing this, we have earned, i have earned a lot of respect in this process. even though there might be some of my base who disagreed with my decision on who i am endorsing, they respect why i am endorsing.

the pushback has been minimal. i would say it has been very granular. we have had a good discussion. maybe we agreed to disagree, but they understand why i endorse the way i endorse. host: if you want to ask him questions about his endorsement, his support for ron desantis, how evangelicals fare when it comes to the caucus , these are the numbers. mr. vander plaats, what is meant by evangelical? we hear the term a lot, but how do you understand that? guest: evangelical is someone who has had a life change. they have given their life to christ. in the christian world, we call it born-again. they want to live their life for christ. they would like to reach out to their friends, neighbors, family

and communicate to them about the life change made in their life. it is a very authentic relationship with jesus. that is what it means to me. that term, however, is a very broad term. it can go from i was born and raised in this state and my parents went to this church, and because i went to the first baptist church baptist church, i am an evangelical. it could be i just represent those values and m.a. self identified evangelical. the truist of meaning means they have had their life changed and given their life to christ. host: when it comes to the former president, 51% of support from those who describe themselves as evangelical. what do you think of that figure? guest: it is not that i mistrust ann selzer's polling, but my numbers do not match up with that. we have a large base

representing the family leader. that means every other person i visit with in my base would have to tell me their voting for donald trump. that is not the case. usually, they say they are appreciative of all the things the former president did in his first administration but they believe we need to turn the page so we can get to the next and original leader in lead for two terms. that is usually followed up with why they are supporting governor desantis. we will see if the polls are accurate. the other key statistic is of the 51% that supports trump, evangelical's, a large percentage do not attend church anymore. our base would be attending church and take the evangelical term the way i initially ascribed it. we will see how the term is defined and described and what

meaning it has in the caucus. host: would you say there is an evangelical case not to vote for the former president? guest: i can only speak for me and my base. they are very appreciative of what the former president did. appointed three supreme court justices, moved the embassy to jerusalem, the abraham accords, speaking up about the sanctity of life at the march for life. they are not always pleased with how he conducted himself weather on the campaign trail, in the office, name-calling, going after our old popular governor who has done so much for this state, the most popular governor in my life history in the state pretty constantly attacks her and governor desantis as well and others not support him. that is the problem we have with the former president. we believe if he is the nominee,

the campaign will be all about the past, all about january 6, the indictments, criminal charges. it will be a referendum on donald trump. that presents a high hurdle for us to win in 2024, versus a guy like governor desantis who will be casting a compelling vision for the country moving forward. host: the family leader's president and ceo bob vander plaats joining us for this conversation. our first call comes from the republican line from california. this is mike. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i have a question on the movement you have and what you are doing as an evangelical. what would you say for people in churches in california that are scared to death? i look at it as cowardly.

they will not touch anything political or try to teach the congregation to go after a christian worldview. they are afraid to touch anything of that nature. host: that is mike in california. guest: that is a really good question, mike, because we encounter that all the time in iowa and the other states we are in. i have had several conversations with people in california about this very issue. we tell our churches and pastors all the time we do not need you to be political. we do not need you to put a trump sign in your yard or a republican party sign in your yard or any other sign in your yard. what we want you to do is be difficult and culturally relevant. when things come up in the culture, whether it is gender confusion, same-sex marriage, the sanctity of human life, decisions being made, be difficult but also be culturally relevant. be able to speak to the issues.

i think the danger we see in the church today is they have bought the talking point that all things are political when in reality, all things are biblical. there is a right and wrong. god is not republican or democrat. god is god. he is the king of kings. he can make republicans uncomfortable because republicans love justice. they have a harder time with mercy. he can make democrats uncomfortable because democrats love mercy but have a harder time with justice. the bible when it is taught well will make all of us uncomfortable but also have us alt-right to achieve to a higher standard. that is a really good question. i would tell your churches be difficult, be cold relevant, and champion your pastor when they step out and do that -- because he relevant, and champion your pastor when they step out and do that. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span.

why is it that we hear more from you so called faith leaders beating up on drag queens then we hear beating up on nazis and klans and hate groups murdering black people. murdering black people in churches, murdering black people in a grocery store, murdering black mothers pulling up to a dollar tree. but you lose your mind about drag queens, which i can understand that part. but there are certain other groups that is a culture in this country. you do not come out with none of the victory all you do against a man wearing a dress. can you please explain that to me, sir? guest: thank you for your question. hopefully, there is no victory all when we do address the issue. we call balls and strikes all the time, what is right and what is wrong. obviously, murder is wrong.

we always reach out on that. we just had a school shooting about an hour away from des moines. the high school principal that got shot during the shooting just passed away yesterday. i am a former high school principal. if you go to my twitter page, you will see me speaking out on that. we try to be a voice into the culture own right and wrong, whether it be discrimination or on exploiting our kids with a hyper sexualized culture, whatever it might be, we try to speak into that. our group is not a partisan group. we invite democrats to our events as well as republicans. we go to the state capital administered to both republicans and democrats. we believe there is a higher standard, not just the partisan standard. host: in north carolina, james on the democrat line. caller: [indiscernible]

i want to know what religion president trump was. that is what i want to know. host: mr. vander plaats? guest: james, i cannot tell you what religion president trump is. i believe when i visited with him in his new york office several years ago he told me he was confirmed at least at the presbyterian church where he received his confirmation. where his face is that today, i am not sure. in regards to a church he attends, he and his family or how they are discipled and counseled in a biblical worldview. that would be a great question for him when he joins c-span1 morning. host: i know you do not speak directly for him, but how would you characterize ron desantis'

faith tradition? guest: he comes from the catholic faith. that faith was strengthened in the losing of his sister unexpectedly but also through the cancer diagnosis of his wife a few years back and walking through her with that journey. that is where the rubber hits the road at that time. he is not one that wears his faith on his sleeve but you can tell even by his policies and leadership he is definitely a christian and conservative, and i would say in that order. he wants to be a shepherd to the people pretty wants to be a servant to the people. he does not want to be "this is about me and i rule over you and i'm dictator." that is what we are looking for in a leader, someone who has a humble attitude as they faced some of the bigger questions in our culture. host: not long ago, you wrote an

op-ed that said "caucusing for ron desantis is a good way to be a friend to donald trump." could you elaborate on that? guest: sure, i can. i started out the op-ed by telling people i have been a friend of trump for over a dozen years. scripture says you can trust the wounds of a friend. i told trump this in his office. i said i will pray for you daily. i will cheer you on when you do what is right. and i will be a voice of accountability and reason when you go outside the bounds. when i say about voting for desantis, i think trump's candidacy presents the highest hurdle to win in 2024. if the government is weaponized against president trump and there is a vindictive nature coming out of the current administration, if trump gets beat again, that will be hyper

intensified on the former president. i think the former president would be well served to make sure there is a fairness of justice and not a weaponization of justice. i think even for president trump come he wants somebody who can win. i think governor desantis has proven in florida he can win. host: the family leader's bob vander plaats joining us for this conversation. dean on the independent line, you are up next. caller: thank you for taking my call. mr. vander plaats, thank you for being on. as a next member of the media -- as an ex-member of the media, i find it fascinating event to locals support trump.

the headline this morning on the associated press is trump gives reason to iowa once to vote for him. his reasoning was so he could punish his enemies. i'm asking for your opinion to explain how evangelicals whatever support donald trump. guest: that is a really good question. thanks for asking that. i think you see evangelicals supporting donald trump because they are loyal. when we elected donald trump in 2016, we did not know what we were going to get. he did follow through on some things evangelical's wanted like the three supreme court justices who overturned roe v. wade and things of that nature. i find it interesting when the indictments came out, that is when trump's numbers started to come up.

with the other indictment, his numbers went up further. i think he said i only need one or two more indictments and i will be the nominee. i think loyalty, having his back, and seeing if the government is going after you and weaponizing against you, it is going against us, therefore we will have your back. i think that is driving the support of evangelical's for donald trump. host: diane in jacksonville, florida, republican line, go ahead. caller: good morning to both of you. i am listening at you and i have to agree. i will not be voting for trump this time around for basically the same reason. i feel like the whole presidency will be about revenge and reliving the past and i am ready to move on. right now i'm leaning strongly

with nikki haley. desantis would be my second choice as a floridian. the only reason he is not my first choice is because as a black republican, i am disappointed at how he has done with the blacks here in jacksonville. and how he seems to suppress some of our history. he is not my first choice but he would be a second alternative if nikki haley does not get it. if trump gets it, i'm going to have to do a lot of praying. i would probably do a write in which is a wasted vote. but i cannot in good conscience vote for donald trump, so let's pray that god puts either desantis or haley in to represent our party. host: thank you.

guest: thank you. i don't know about your history of governor desantis. i do know i see a lot of the black community in iowa supporting him because of what he has done as governor of florida. i hope and pray governor desantis is that alternative to trump. the way i sized it up is trump may be able to win the nomination, but it will be awfully hard for him to win the general. vicki haley i believe cannot win the nomination. i don't think there is a path forward for her to win the nomination even though she may be able to win the general. i think governor desantis can win the nomination and the general. the other point you bring up is 75% of america recently polled do not want trump or biden, they want something else. somebody said to me that the party that embraces the next generation leader first is the party that wins.

that is why i strongly believe biden may not be the democrat nominee. i think this may be a show and go. you insert governor newsom, michelle obama, somebody else other than president biden. but your concerns are well noted. that is why i endorse governor desantis this go around. host: what say trump does win the nomination, what is the likelihood you will come out in strong support of him? guest: president trump will have to earn my support like you will have to earn a lot of other support. i think president trump even said that about his opponents. if he is not the nominee, he is not sure who he could support because they would have to earn it. right now, we are in the primary and caucus season. let's keep our focus there. i would say if trump does become the nominee, he will not just have to earn my support but a lot of other support as well.

host: particularly among evangelicals, will there be a fracture in support if he becomes the nominee? guest: it just depends on how he operates when he becomes the nominee. right now, when he talks about the thing to take of life, he talks about supporting three supreme court justices. he talks about how that is an awful bill. he told cnn he will make a deal on the sanctity of human life. he says at the fox news town hall the sanctity of human life issues getting us beat in elections and we need to win elections. that is not to like a commitment to the sanctity of human life. that sounds like i need to win while the sanctity of human life loses. there is a lot of other issues. the gender issue, can a man

become a woman, and he could not answer that. there are questions as to what kind of donald trump we will get as the nominee. host: in florida, republican line. go ahead. caller: when he said what an evangelical is, it is surprising to me. he said a person if their life to christ when in reality christ gave his life for us. the other thing is about desantis and nikki haley. you forget we have been through covid, we have been through all the lies of the democrats. it is not just trump who has been through that. the same thing i feel about nikki haley and desantis is the thought someone whispered in her ear that you can be president, you can win over him because he will not make it through.

you are finding out they did not story in the old testament about moses and holding up his hand. they run against him and they expect us who have been through covid and all this dirt of the last election, everything he has been through, do you think we will desert him too? that is about all i have to say. host: we will leave it there. thank you so much. guest: barbara, thank you for your insight. you are exactly right. christ is the one who gave his life for us and we accept him. in return, we give our lives to him. it is interesting you hang your hat on covid and everything we went through with covid and you are still supporting donald trump. donald trump has doubled

down on covid whether it be the mask mandates or the closing down of businesses, churches, and schools. he believes that leadership is right. he basically gave the presidential powers to anthony fauci. it was governors like kim reynolds and iowa and ron desantis who pushed back on all these mandates. they kept the schools and churches and beaches open. they the bike trails open. they treated islands and floridians like adults. they said it was their choice to get the vaccination, not a mandate pray that was all president trump. he is still doubling down on that. it is one of the things that surprises the heck out of me that people like you still go i am all in for him. he is the one who shut you down. he put big government in control over you while governor desantis

is the one that treated you well. host: that iowa polls says governor desantis is expected come in third tonight. what happens if that happens? guest: i think you will have ann selzer on after me. she covered her narrative because she gave the numbers desantis would come in third but in the narrative, she said i think nikki will have a bad night because there is not the enthusiasm for her campaign and it is loaded with democrats and independents, good luck trying to get them out on a cold night. she acted like desantis would outperform because of the enthusiasm from the campaign and organization. i believe i have been around this quite often, the iowa caucuses. i believe desantis is set for a great night tonight. i think it is good there are low expectations. there have been low expectations

for him throughout the campaign. when he ran for congress, he was not supposed to win. when he ran for governor, he was not supposed to win. i think tonight will be a good night. i think people realize it is a 2-person race between governor desantis and president trump. host: the family leader president and ceo also a supporter of ron desantis' cam plane bob vander plaats, thank you -- ron desantis epoxy campaign, -- ron desantis' campaign, bob vander plaats, thank you. j. ann selzer joining us for the conversation next on "washington journal." >> tonight, watch

campaign 2024 live coverage the iowa gop caucuses as we preview the first-in-the-nation voting. we will take you inside to watch the process unfold from registration to vote count. we will go over caucus results as they come in with candidate speeches and your calls. it all begins at seven: 30 eastern on c-span and on c-span2 where you can watch our special caucuscast with real-time analysis of the night's caucuses. live coverage of the iowa caucuses tonight at 7:30 eastern on c-span and c-span2, our free mobile app, and online. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span's voice is 2024 as we engage voters

nationwide asking, what issues most important to you in this election and why? >> i am from colorado. the most important issue to me would have to be climate change. there are a lot of issues i am passionate about. but climate change is something affecting our whole world and something my generation will have to live with for a long time. >> i am from cincinnati. the issue most important to me this election is definitely transparency in government. i believe the government is meant to be a servant to the people and everything they do should be public knowledge. that will definitely be very important in my deciding who to vote for. >> the most important issue to me this election is unity, someone who can bring the country together rather than create divisiveness and instill fear in people. i do not want people to be afraid of the bogeyman or be

paranoid. i want them to come together and have a rational discussion. >> the top issue for me in this election cycle is going to be the economy and inflation. i am a student. gas prices and inflation are huge to me. with wages not going up, i think it is important we get that under control. economic prosperity is a top issue for all of us. >> c-span's voice is 2024, be part of the conversation -- c-span's voices 2024, be part of the conversation. >> you can find videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers on the right hand side of your screen when you hit "play" on select videos. this tool makes it quickly to easily get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington.

scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our final guest of the morning is j. ann selzer of selzer and company. thanks for your time this morning. we do appreciate it. guest: my pleasure. host: we have shown the hard numbers that came out from the poll. what do you think of those results when they were finally tabulated? guest: it is clear donald trump holds a commanding lead at 48%. symbolically perhaps more important is a drop of three points from our december poll. the other two only got 36%. even those two together are far

behind donald trump at 48%. host: have you ever seen such a spread between the top-tier candidate and those underneath? guest: it is unprecedented at this stage of the caucus cycle for one candidate to have led the whole time and finish in such a strong position. host: those are the hard numbers. one of the variables, the things that could factor in after people decide tonight? guest: especially important because it will be negative temperatures tonight. i think the enthusiasm factor could be very telling and if there is a dramatic difference. when you ask donald trump supporters how they feel, extremely enthusiastic, wildly enthusiastic, not enthusiastic, i think it is 49% of his supporters say they are extremely enthusiastic. for ron desantis supporters, it

is 23%, so it is not even half what donald trump gets. for nikki haley, i think very importantly, it is only 9%. these are people who choose her as their first choice and yet it is only 9% who say they are extremely enthusiastic. the majority of her supporters are mildly or not that enthusiastic. if enthusiasm is what gets you out the door tonight, that looks like potentially a problem for neatly haley -- nikki haley. host: i think you used the term jaw-dropping looking at the numbers. could you elaborate on that? guest: i think there is an explanation for it but i have never seen a candidate with support that is not enthusiastic about it. she is drawing likely from

caucus-goers who identify or are registered as independent or democrat. there are people choosing her and choosing to caucus more as a symbolic show of we do not want donald trump. you can kind of understand they may not be that enthusiastic. that does not mean they are not committed, that they feel strongly about trying to defeat donald trump. i think that stitches together the reason for her enthusiasm numbers being love. -- low. host: one of the highlights in the poll is if a voter's mind is already meet up, with 82% of those -- made up, with 82% saying their mind was made up. 63% for nikki haley. how does that compare to previous cycles for people who

have already made a decision? guest: keep in mind that we interviewed until friday night. we are right up against the caucus happening. it is not terribly surprising a strong number of supporters say their mind is made up and they could not shift. however, experienced caucus-goers know that caucuses are designed for things to change in the room on caucus night. if it were a primary, you would be prohibited from trying to influence somebody's vote was in so many yards of the election booth. but at caucuses, you are invited to talk to the people in the room. each campaign has somebody who gives a little pitch for why you should support their candidate. we saw a fair amount of that at least anecdotally in 2016 which led to ted cruz defeating donald trump who was leading in our final poll. there are things that happen on caucus night. all the polling can do is help us determine what the intent was as they walked in the door.

host: ann selzer here for this conversation. if you want to ask her questions about the polls and results she is talking about, 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. about the mechanics of the poll, how many people do you talk to? tell us about the process. guest: we talked to a lot of people. we start with the registered voter list which is a huge proportion an almost universal list of everybody eligible to vote in iowa. then we call randomly with a few criteria. i will not go into the details. we ask people if they will definitely go to the republican caucus, probably, might not.

if you say definitely or probably, we take you, we accept you as a likely caucus-goers. if you say less than that, we gather your democratic data from the list so we know your age, sacks, and county, and we talked to over 4000 people to get 700-some likely voters. we can make those 4000 people look like a cross-section of the voter list and then we extract the likely voters. if older people are more likely to caucus, they will show up in our dataset. that is how we keep control. we do not pretend to know what the likely caucus going public looks like. we want our data to reveal to us the makeup of the likely caucus field. host: what is the track record of the poll?

guest: the last republican caucus, we had donald trump leading but ted cruz ended up being victorious on caucus night. we could see there was some softness for donald trump and strength for ted cruz. we try to tell the story. we are not perfect but i do not think there is any poll out there that takes a better shot at trying to get everybody in the pool that would be equally eligible and available for us to contact them for our poll. host: it was in 2020 that pete buttieg on the democrat side won the caucus. rick santorum 2012 and in 2008 candidate barack obama. that gives you a little history of the polls. our first call for you is from

virginia, independent line. you are on with ann selzer. sylvia, go ahead. caller: virginia seems very exciting and enthusiastic. if i was there voting, i would vote for desantis even though president trump is higher. i am an evangelical. i switched from republican to independent. i really feel desantis has a chance. host: thank you. we had bob vander plaats on previously. he talked about evangelical support. reiterate the numbers now. guest: the evangelical community has been very strong for donald trump when we interview across iowa, not just caucus-goers.

they have been his strongest group of supporters. in this poll, he gets 48% over all, 43% with evangelicals. i think we have seen in the past the evangelical community shows up disproportionate to what we see in our poll. there is a level of commitment and determination there. it could be this turns out to be a better night for donald trump on the basis of evangelical votes. host: republican line in california, this is jim. hi. caller: thank you for taking my call. i live in an area, a small part of california, we only have internet phones which i don't find useful instead of landlines. we get a disproportionate number of polling calls because we do

have landlines and it is a listed number. with everybody these days seeming to have cell phones, how does that affect your accuracy? how do you know who is calling, who you are calling as much as you do with the old-fashioned system? host: thank you. guest: good question. up until 2008, including 2008, we could nor cell phones -- we could ignore cell phones. if we got the age distribution right, we would be representative in our respondent pool. that changed with the recession and people dropping expenses that were not needed like the landline. what we do with our voter list is send it to a look up house that will match the name and address with known phone numbers, whether they be cell phones or landlines.

in fact, including cell phones has been helpful because we can reach people that do not happen to be at home when we call them and we have been able to corral the issues we had in the early days about cell phones and it has not affected our accuracy. host: shirley in virginia, democrats line, hello. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, please. caller: i would like to ask her a question. does she think donald trump would have 48% of the vote, the numbers in the polls, if he had participated in any of the debates the republicans had? also, even this morning, his

republican representative did not show up. every time they have a debate, he always has something else going on at the same time so his people cannot see what is actually happening and what he is doing. that is my question. guest: it is a good question. you are characterizing it exactly right. he has other programming when the debates are going on. we don't know what the impact of that is. all we know is when we take all that into account, he ends up with what i call a commanding lead in iowa. i would just offer up that the debaters showing up are not that aggressive in terms of how they are attacking donald trump. i do not know if that would have been different had he been on the stage. they criticize him for not being on the stage, of course. but what they have been more aggressive? what our data show is even if

donald trump were to be convicted of a crime before the general election, the majority of likely republican caucus-goers say that does not matter to them. so, he has a lot of resilience in terms of things that might happen down the campaign trail in terms of people holding on to their belief he should be restored and there for the next president. host: the former president spending a lot of time in courtrooms leading up to today. guest: the challenging candidates are having lots of events and a lot of them talk about doing the full grassley, in reference to chuck grassley going to all 99 counties each year. donald trump flies in, does a

rally, flies out. but the way i understand from the reporting is he is working the people attending the rallies that is very effective. it is thousands of people who go to these rallies. as i understand, there's a lot of detailed instruction in terms of getting commitment cards filled out, telling people they have to be able to vote, they should act as if they are one percentage point behind, and to bring people who are like-minded to caucus tonight. so, he is at least as effective and perhaps more effective even spending more limited time actually campaigning. host: the iowa secretary of state tells us there are about 2.2 in the state of iowa. we have a viewer who asks the

question of what percentage of iowans participate in the iowa caucus, or you can elaborate on caucuses over all. guest: it is a small proportion of all eligible voters. the last time there was a caucus in 2016, i think it was about 180,000 who caucused on the republican side, hundred 80,000 out of the -- 180,000 out of the 2.2 million. it is a tiny slice of events happening and yet the most important thing a candidate can do is win, and iowa is the first place they can win. host: let's hear from mark in indiana, republican line. caller: thanks, pedro. . i want to say thank you, dr. martin luther king, for all the good work you did, either personally, giving me a day today so i can participate -- more personally, giving me a day

today so i can participate. do you find when people caucus well that they gain consideration? i know it is also a position, but gain consideration as a vice presidential running mate? guest: i think that is highly variable. i do not know at this time that donald trump would choose nikki haley or ron desantis as his running mate. there has been enough conflict brought to the surface, and donald trump does not like anybody who is not loyal, so it is hard to think the parkinson -- person who caucuses well will be chosen. ron desantis did not caucus -- [indiscernible] did not caucus well and he became the vice president. caller: my question is regarding

the evangelical voters in iowa. do you see a split between the evangelicals that have a college degree and those who do not with trump and desantis voters? does haley get any of the evangelical vote? guest: she gets some of the evangelical vote, but ron desantis gets more of the evangelical boat. as to whether we define a group of evangelicals with college degrees, i cannot tell you. later this morning, i will probably take a look. host: you talked about the independent voter heading into tonight. describe them and who they are likely to support. guest: i want to say this clearly, donald trump wins among every demographic group that we look at. we looked at dozens and dozens of demographic groups. it is not always in the 40%. he got 36% among independents, and nikki haley got 33%. don't hold me to those numbers but that is about, it is a good

showing for her among independents, but donald trump still has the plurality of the vote. host: new york, democrats line. caller: one other question. host: sorry, we already grabbed you. let's hear from tom in new york. go ahead. caller: yes, thank you. can you hear me? host: yes, you are on. caller: i want to look deeper into the desantis-haley polls. she has momentum, obviously. i want to know if there are specific areas where she has momentum under the sub poll issues, illegal immigration, unity of leadership, and maybe even pro-life. guest: those are really good questions. in our final poll before the caucuses, we had one day to crunch the numbers and publish them that night. we have to have a short questionnaire for the news

organizations who fund the poll to be able to dig through the data, so we did not do issues. i have nothing for you on that. host: let's hear from eric in minnesota, democrats line for ann selzer. go ahead. caller: yes, representatives torres and goldman have proposed the desantis act -- santos act to better vet candidates before they appear on the ballot on whether they are truthful describing their background. i believe pending litigation and pending criminality should be criteria for anyone to be on the ballot. i believe the act which has been introduced to the house should include that anyone with pending criminal litigation, that would have to be clarified and finalized before the american voter would be able to pass judgment and vote on that person.

i would like to comment. thank you. guest: my comment would be i think the ultimate test would be the united states constitution which describes the eligibility factor as only age and being a natural born citizen. there is some skepticism about what the 14th amendment, article three, about whether you have taken an oath and then committed insurrection, what does that mean? that does not mean if you have been convicted of a crime that you cannot run for president. i think it would be a long road for that to happen. i'm not saying it would be a bad thing if it did or did not happen. but i see a long road ahead for that. host: we have been talking much about the poll leading up to today. what do you look at after? what are you trying to find out? guest: after tonight? host: yes.

guest: this is one area where the poll ends up being extremely useful, which is to explain why what happened happened. there will be new questions that come to mind when we see the way things align tonight and the way things play out in the levels of the vote. maybe vivek ramaswamy does better than we think. nobody is talking about him but he improved his position by three percentage points from december. there are all these polling things that can happen, that might happen. and if they do happen, we will have some data to go back and say, what did we miss? was there an early indicator this would happen? host: what things are you looking for particularly from tonight? guest: i am just looking to see how my numbers stack up. i'm just looking to see how that goes. host: ann selzer with the iowa

poll that has come out. we talked quite a bit since it has released -- been released. where can people find the work and all the information that underlies that? guest: you can go to the des moines register website, d mregister.com. if you google the des moines register, it will take you where it will be. there is an attachment that gives you all the questions we asked and all the topline data with some breakouts. that is the best place to go. host: sorry about that. thank you for your time. guest: my pleasure. host: don't forget with two nights caucus, as part of -- don't forget that with tonight's coverage of the caucus, you can do that in a variety of ways. our coverage starts at 7:30. you can call in and talk about those results.

a variety of ways to do that. you can do that through our main channel c-span, c-span.org. if you have the app and want to download it, that is c-span now. if you happen to be out and about and want to listen to the results, we invite you to follow along on c-span radio. that is it for our program today. complete coverage of the caucuses on our program tomorrow that comes your way at 7:00. see you then. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> discover the heartbeat of democracy with c-span's voices 2024 as we engage voters nationwide asking what issues most important to you in this election and why? >> i am from denver, colorado.

the most important issue for me this election cycle would have to be climate change. a lot of issues that i am passionate about, that need to be addressed. climate change is something that affects our whole world. something my generation will have to live with for a long time. >> i am from cincinnati, ohio, and the issue that is most important for me, definitely transparency in government. i believe the government is meant to serve the people. everything they do should be public knowledge. that will definitely be very important in my choosing of a candidate. >> the most important issue for me this election is someone who can bring the country together rather than create decisiveness. i don't want people to be afraid , paranoid.

i want them to come together and have a rational discussion. >> the top issue for me this election cycle will definitely be the economy and inflation. i'm a student so gas prices and inflation are important for me. getting wages under control, keeping economic prosperity is a top issue for all of us. >> c-span's voices 2024. be a part of the conversation. >> >> we are in dallas county plowing with his tractor. how long does it take you to do this whole street? >> this is just my driveway. normally about 90 minutes. he has been out playing in it since 10:00. >> it's about 3:00 in the

afternoon. do you pay much attention to the caucusers going on? >> i used to travel an awful lot in my lifetime, in my work. i was really around in the caucusers. we certainly keep track of what is happening as we lead up to the caucuses. i do watch what i think will happen but i have not attended.

we are in education so you cannot change but it's like everybody else does. everyone can raise their prices pretty fast. when you are dealing with government multiyear contracts, you cannot walk in overnight and say we had a 35% increase in salaries over the past year. i cannot go back to my constituents and raise their prices by 35%. >> do you have a candidate in the race even though you will not caucus? >> i have really been an independent for an awful long time. like a lot of people, i will wait and see where the dust settles on the republican side. i wouldn't say i have a candidate yet. it will be interesting to see tomorrow night how trump, desantis, and where haley falls on this. certainly watching a little bit

of the news this morning, we know that trump is ahead 2-1. >> 30 points in the latest poll. >> sometimes surprising, isn't it? >> are you surprised that there has not been much change at the top? >> i don't think we have a strong enough candidate to go after trump. >> are you going to try to get some of your neighbors out to caucus with your tractor? >> actually thought that you needed some help when you pulled into the driveway. i will be doing this for another hour or two today. >> thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> stay warm. >> tonight, watched c-span's campaign 2024 coverage of the eye with gop caucuses as we preview the first in the nation building. we take you inside to watch the process unfold, unfiltered and

uninterrupted, from caucus speeches to vote counts. we will bring you results as they come in with candidate speeches and we will take your call beginning at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span and on c-span two, where you can watch our special caucus cast with expert providing historical context and play-by-play analysis. live coverage of the iowa caucuses, tonight at 7:30 p.m. he eastern, c-span, c-span2, our mobile app, and online at c-span.org/campaign2024. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> a healthy democracy doesn't just look like this, it looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work. when citizens are truly informed, a republic thrives. get informed, straight from the source, on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from

the nation's capital to wherever you are. because the opinion that matters most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. >> today is martin luther king jr. day, recognizing the birth day legacy of the civil rights icon. president ronald reagan signed the bill in 1983 making the third monday in january a federal holiday in his honor. first observed three years later in 1986 and it was not until 2000 when the holiday was celebrated in all 50 states. next, a discussion with democratic congresswoman frederica wilson and journalist don lemon on the well-being and status of black boys and men. this event is about 90 minutes.