By Stephen Macaulay

There are approximately 3.2 million people who live in Iowa. The population of Los Angeles is bigger. The population density in Iowa is 57.1 people per square mile. In LA its 8,304.2. Of course, Los Angeles measure 469.69 square miles while Iowa is 55,853.42 square miles, so there’s more room to spread out. Of the people in Iowa, 89.8% are white. In LA it is 41.2%.

This is not to say that Los Angeles is America. 

But arguably Iowa is closer to the other 49 states than you might think.

As in, for the U.S. as a whole, the population density is 93.8 people, which is a whole lot closer to 57.1 than it is to 8,304.2. What’s more, the percentage of those who simply checked the box next to “White” on the U.S. Census Bureau form is 75.5%, which means a delta of 14.3% with Iowa and 34.3% with LA.

And while some liberal commentators and pundits would like us to believe that plenty of people in Iowa are hicks — as in awkward provincial people, not smooth urban sophisticates, as they fancy themselves — 93% of those in Iowa are high school graduates or higher. In LA the number is 78.7%. It is 89.1% for the U.S. as a whole.

Again, Iowa comes closer to the norm than LA in that context.

And a political fun fact: U.S. presidents were born in a total 21 states. Iowa is one of them. It gave us Herbert Hoover.

California was the birthplace of one president, too: Richard Nixon. 

But one of the things that is different about Iowa goes back to that comparatively low population density. A large percentage of its voters are rural, not suburban, and certainly not urban. They have a different perspective on things than those in large cities and its surroundings. 

States like Kansas, Nebraska and North Dakota have low population densities.

States like New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts have high population densities.

Clearly, that makes a difference in how people vote.

Is it a surprise that Trump dominated in Iowa?

Nope.

Odds are there is nothing that is going to happen that will derail the Trump train.

As Newton’s first law has it, a body in motion stays in motion unless a force acts against it and those two aren’t notable forces.

DeSantis and Haley are largely things that allow reporters to write about something else. They aren’t forces with serious momentum.

Going back to point-of-view, it is different in Cedar Rapids than Stamford, more pragmatic.

The Dem’s messaging about “an existential threat to freedom and democracy” plays bettter in New Haven than in Waterloo.

Iowa is the leading corn producing state in the country and while the word “corny” comes to mind with regard to “Bidenomics,” some people in Iowa would probably not use their state’s agricultural bounty in vain and simply consider it to be “bullshit.”

While it may seem absurd that a rich (well, perceived so) real estate businessman from New York City and now a tony part of Florida plays well in Iowa, it is the fact that he is being plain-spoken that undoubtedly resonates.

If Biden wants to win among large numbers of people who are more akin to the ethos of Middle America rather than the Coasts, then he basically has to become more fundamental:

• “We need roads and bridges. I got the legislation that is making that happen. He kept announcing ‘infrastructure initiatives’ that was simply hot air.”
• “We need more manufacturing in America. And were getting them. Remember the jobs at the Indianapolis Carrier plant that he ‘saved’? It simply cost a whole lot of tax-payer money and didn’t save a hell of a lot of jobs.”
• “We need to keep politicians within check. He’s actually talking about running things the way he wants to, not necessarily the way you want. That’s not what America is about.”

Iowa’s results are inevitable. And they point to something far larger than what they’re talking about on MSNBC.