Network Correspondents Talk About Covering A Trump-Dominated Iowa Caucus Race -- And Why They Don't Rule Out A Frigid Twist

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

74% : If Trump captures 50% plus, his campaign has a major headline.
73% : VAUGHN HILLYARD, NBC News: I came with Trump on his very first visit to Davenport one year ago, after his announcement, and I essentially have been coming back consistently ever since.
67% : Trump was saying in his speech that my supporters would walk on glass to go out there and support him.
60% : The theme of the campaign is the balancing act that these candidates have had to do, vis a vis Trump -- - how much they focus on him how much they don't.O'KEEFE: We spent the few days we were here first with his super PAC watching how they were already going door to door knocking trying to find potential DeSantis supporters.
59% : The Trump campaign continues to provide access to NBC News, and I have no reason to believe that that would change in any way because I hope that there is a mutual understanding that our ability to engage with President Trump is essential to ... our reporting on the election just a few months ahead, but also to ensure that our major platforms are also accurately reporting on the events that are unfolding around the Trump campaign, and the former president's words.
56% : A lot of Trump supporters want to explain their support for him.
55% : The candidates, really, have in some respect struggled to sort of break free from that, because Donald Trump is the centerpiece of the story.
55% : There are there are legitimate policies that people want Donald Trump to support in the White House, which are all completely legitimate political conversations.
54% : And Trump supporters were saying at the rally there that they are going to show up.
52% : As far as Trump going after the media, that's been that's been his strategy going back eight years.
51% : And they also remember going to Trump headquarters.
51% : But what I just do is try to keep my head down and keep doing my job and demonstrate through my reporting, both in interacting with them
51% : So I've met just as many Trump supporters who are eager to tell me why they support Donald Trump as those who tell me to pound sand.
51% : At this point the story isn't if Donald Trump will win, it's how he will win and by how much.
50% : Do you travel to Washington D.C. where the former president is going to be in court, or do you stay in the state that will be having the first major real test of this Republican primary?Trump indictmentsZELENY:
50% : They want to see what he can do across the country and they like Trump, it's nothing against him.
49% : The expectation is that Donald Trump will win -- - but like past caucuses, that will only tell part of the story.
47% : The poll showed Trump at 48%, Haley at 20%, DeSantis at 16% and Vivek Ramaswamy at 8%.
47% : There is so often talk that retail politics means everything in Iowa, but just this weekend I was talking to a GOP county chairman and he told me that this is just evidence that Donald Trump is his own unique political figure, and the same rules don't apply to him.
42% : But Donald Trump here in Iowa leads his campaign not with policy but with conspiracy theories that make people feel like they have to support him or they are giving way to this idea of the deep state and Democratic control.
41% : Donald Trump Ordered To Pay Nearly $400,000 In Legal Fees To New York Times And Other Defendants After His Lawsuit Was DismissedThe Iowa caucus on Monday will be like no other -- - and that was apparent from the start, well before subzero weather raised doubts about turnout, stymied campaigns in the final sprint and left an army of reporters and consultants seeking the warm refuge of Des Moines hotel lobbies.
41% : But it was not just about them, it was about them in relation to Donald Trump and that makes this caucus different in every way...
40% : And boy, you don't see many children at Donald Trump rallies.
40% : Instead, I feel like my role as a journalist is to also understand why voters believe what they do, and why they are following Donald Trump nine years on.
35% : And I think that factual reporting is essential, but also Donald Trump has a grasp over a movement and is not tethered to the facts that news organizations are reporting out.HEMMER:
34% : We were in Tallahassee to do a story on the guy who is not only going to challenge Trump, but he was the leading Republican presidential candidate at that point.
32% : They instead said that Democrats are a threat to democracy because they believe that they are taking away people's right to vote for Trump in those states.
32% : Was it because they just wanted to say Trump because they're worried about what their friends and neighbors might think if they don't?
30% : ZELENY: Just last week I was at two events with Ron DeSantis and two voters stood up and asked him why he hadn't been tougher on Trump.
25% : But [Trump] didn't do that eight years ago, and because he didn't do it then, because he thought it was like everywhere else, he lost.
25% : But then it came clear that it was probably a death sentence for them inside the Republican Party if they were to either pile on or call on Trump to get out of the race or what not.
25% : More recently, I we've seen him and other candidates come out more against Trump and speak more actively about him.
18% : One guy said, 'Why are you going so soft on Trump?
16% : ZELENY: Eight years ago at this point right now, evangelical voters were very skeptical of Donald Trump.
16% : Trump literally came in and you know, stole the thunder away from Ron DeSantis.
15% : I believe I asked Governor DeSantis at that time, Did it bother him that Trump was there, or you know, was he kind of stealing the spotlight?
7% : He's gonna challenge Trump, and Trump was already gearing up to attack him.'

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.