Ahead of Iowa, voters shrug off Donald Trump's legal woes

With his numerous legal issues, Donald Trump is the front-runner for the US presidential nomination from the Republican Party and may also be the one with the most to lose.

But, entering into the first round of the 2024 presidential primary season, the ex-commander in chief’s followers are sticking with him despite his unprecedented four indictments.

According to voters questioned by AFP, concerns about the economy and Joe Biden’s age, the current White House occupant, are more pressing issues than allegations of a political plot to remove Trump through the legal system.

The issue now is whether their fervour will convert into a victory for the former leader as he looks to face Biden again, with the Iowa caucuses scheduled to begin on Monday.

Greatest president ‘in this century’

“He’s the greatest president we’ve had in this century,” says Scott.

The Iowan declined to give his last name, worried about professional backlash — a sign of just how controversial Trump remains in a politically polarized country.

As for the four separate criminal cases against the ex-president related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, “I think it’s all crap,” the 51-year-old adds.

“I think 100 percent of it is coordinated and being done for political purposes.”

It’s an opinion that despite lacking evidence is widely, if not universally, shared among the other voters AFP spoke to at a Trump campaign stop in Indianola, just south of state capital Des Moines, on the eve of the state’s caucuses.

Biden’s age a factor

“The stuff they’re going after him for, that’s all lies,” 59-year-old Betsy Showers says of Trump’s two federal and two state indictments, comprising 91 felony charges.

While both Trump, 77, and Biden, 81, have faced questions about their age, Showers worries that Biden, who has suffered a series of trips and verbal slips, “doesn’t even know what he’s talking about half the time.”

“He gets lost,” the truck driver added. “He doesn’t even know how to get off the stage.”

Trump, meanwhile, is “trying to save the country,” Showers, in a white hoodie with an American flag design, tells AFP.

‘He’s the man’

The first time that Chris Montgomery, 21, heard about Donald Trump, he was “still in (elementary) school.”

Snacking on candy before the Indianola event, the young voter was excited about the candidate — “a true American,” who “doesn’t care what other people say.”

That bombast was part of what swept Trump to the White House in 2016, and none of the other Republican hopefuls — including top rivals Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis — have swayed Montgomery, who hails from the small town of Milo.

Yet he’s less confident when it comes to Trump’s legal woes.

“I don’t really know what to say about that,” he says in a hushed voice, when asked about the issue.

In the event Trump is convicted in at least one of the trials before the election, would he still support him?

“Absolutely,” Montgomery says. “He’s the man.”

‘Not a very good look’

It is the first presidential election he can participate in, and Paul Freund, 20, is ready to caucus for Trump — if he can get his car to start.

Iowa has been battered by a fierce winter storm, with snow, ice and wind chills dipping past -45 degrees Fahrenheit (-42 degrees Celsius) descending on the Midwestern state.

Freund, studying to become a sports coach, is big on Trump’s economic proposals as inflation continues to squeeze Americans.

“I go to the grocery store and I pay $100 for just like a week’s worth of stuff,” he tells AFP.

“With Trump, it might be a bit better.”

But in the case of a Trump conviction, he would “probably not” support the former president’s bid for office.

“Breaking the law isn’t right, and if the president is doing that, that’s not a very good look,” he says.

It’s his opinion — but among Trump supporters, according to the latest polling, he’ll find himself in the minority.