Does Ethanol Matter In The Iowa Caucuses?

  • Tuesday, 29 December 2015 00:00

With the Iowa caucuses a mere few weeks away, ethanol has once again been thrusted into the spotlight. Only, this time, the question is whether it matters?

A new story making the rounds (which even landed in today's Star Tribune) seems to suggest ethanol is no longer the issue it was once in presidential politics in the Hawkeye state.

The story, however, is not built on any recent scientific poll but by the fact that Sen. Ted Cruz, an anti-ethanol advocate is leading the polls in the Repulican race.

In other words, this story is built on pure conjecture. After all, it fails to mention that the two Democrat front runners in Iowa both support the RFS.

It also ignores the fact that a poll conducted two weeks ago by Bloomberg and the Des Moines Register shows that 61 percent of Republican caucus-goers support the RFS.

On the other side, 77 percent of Democrat caucus-goers support the law. 

So it's quite apparent that the RFS and ethanol enjoys significant bipartisan support in Iowa and is still important in Iowa presidential politics.