With Minds of Their Own

Iowans of both parties who say they will participate in next month's caucuses are far more eager than voters nationwide to move the U.S. in a new direction. In a survey for TIME by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman,* 50% of Iowa Republicans say they would like the next President to "follow different policies" from the Reagan Administration's, compared with 39% who would stay on the same course. Nationally, Republican voters prefer the status quo over change by 58% to 32%. Iowa Democrats also display a marked contrast to voters nationwide: in Iowa, 93% favor a change from the Reagan era, against 77% nationally.

Sharp disparities also exist between Iowa and the rest of the U.S. on specific critical issues. In appraising economic conditions, Iowans are more dour than voters elsewhere. In Iowa, 45% of Republicans judge the economy "fairly bad or very bad," vs. 38% of G.O.P. voters nationwide. Democrats are even more doubtful about the economy: 73% of the Iowans are downbeat, vs. 60% of Democrats at large. Most Iowans, like Americans generally, support increased federal spending on education, care for the elderly, cleanup of the environment and help for the homeless. Similarly, majorities in both parties say they are willing to pay higher taxes to finance bigger social programs. % But despite their reputation for liberal views, Iowans are less likely to support big-buck programs. Among Democrats, for instance, 73% in Iowa favor larger Government subsidies for education; nationally, the figure is 81%.

Iowans are even less enthusiastic than voters elsewhere about federal assistance to farmers, despite the state's agricultural base. Some 55% of Republicans at large favor increased aid, vs. 48% in Iowa. Among Democrats, support for an increase drops from 72% nationwide to 58% in Iowa. The state's long, intimate experience with federal programs that fail

to solve the basic farm dilemma may account for the difference.

Iowans are far more dovish on defense and foreign policy. Asked if military appropriations should be increased, decreased or kept the same, Republicans nationally divide 30% for higher spending, 23% for less and 45% for no change. But in Iowa, only 19% of Republicans favor more defense, and 36% want less. Democrats nationwide split roughly by thirds on the same question; in Iowa, half the Democrats support a cut in Pentagon spending, and only 15% prefer an increase. Asked if they favor or oppose U.S. aid to the contras in Nicaragua, Republicans nationally support the program, 54% to 32%; Iowa Republicans divide narrowly against it, 42% to 40%. While Democrats in general oppose contra assistance by 2 to 1, the ratio in Iowa is 5 to 1.

Just as many of Reagan's policies are unpopular in Iowa, overall approval of the President's performance also scrapes bottom in the state. That accounts, at least partly, for the poor standing of Vice President George Bush among voters likely to attend Iowa's G.O.P. caucuses. The clear front runner nationally among Republican voters, Bush trails Bob Dole by 10 points in Iowa.