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 There was no ecstasy in the crowd when the former Alaska governor
and vice presidential nominee endorsed Republican front-runner
Donald Trump at a rally in Ames, Iowa, on Tuesday night. And at
Trump's next appearance on Wednesday in Norwalk, people who came to
see him - both hard-core Trump supporters and undecided voters -
said Palin was not swaying them.
"They're going to have to do an image remake of her," said Joani
Estes, 56, of Indianola, Iowa. Estes said her Pentecostal Christian
faith made her feel aligned with Palin, but it did not make her feel
any more strongly about Trump. She liked him, she said, and was
likely going to caucus for him during the state's nominating contest
on Feb. 1 - but she was also keeping the door open for his closest
rival, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
Her friend Jenny Terrell, 55, said Palin's endorsement made her less
certain about her support for Trump. A longtime Democrat, Terrell
said she had been inspired by Trump but was put off by Palin's
extreme opposition to abortion rights.
"I was a little disappointed," she said, adding that even though she
knew Trump had declared himself to be against abortion, she did not
see him as being as fervently anti-abortion as Palin.
As a strategic move in Trump's competition against Cruz in Iowa,
getting an endorsement from Palin made sense, political experts
said. She is popular among tea party Republicans who rail against
the political establishment, as well as blue-collar evangelical
Christians, two groups from which Cruz draws strong support.
It is not yet clear whether evangelical leaders in the state will
follow Palin's lead and choose Trump over Cruz. But Trump had
already managed to draw some of those voters with his brash,
sweeping talk of keeping refugees out of the United States, building
a wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration, and
putting education policy back in the hands of local communities.
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"I could care less" about Palin's support for Trump, said Scott
Heckart, 49, who said he had made up his mind to caucus for the
billionaire businessman and former reality TV star.
Even Andrew Haup, 26 - who said he decided to support U.S. Senator
John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008,
only after McCain made Palin his running mate - said her endorsement
mattered little to him since he had already made up his mind to
support Trump.
Near the back of the room where Trump spoke on Wednesday morning,
Matt Burns, 47, a Cruz supporter, stood alone. He said he had only
come to see Trump because his teenage daughter had asked him to take
her. He said he liked Palin and was not angry at her for choosing
Trump over Cruz, but said her choice was not going to sway him.
"For me it doesn't really do a whole lot," he said. "I think most
people know who they're going to caucus for."
(Reporting By Emily Flitter; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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