Iowa Republicans' most important presidential quality: The ability to beat Biden

Nearly three-quarters of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers — 74% — believe it’s “extremely important” for GOP presidential candidates to possess the quality of being able to defeat President Joe Biden.

That’s the most popular of nine different candidate qualities the latest NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll tested among Iowa Republicans — based on the share of likely caucusgoers saying the quality is "extremely important."

Beating Biden was followed by believing in a strong American role in world affairs (54% called that quality "extremely important"), being the “adult in the room” (51%), working with the opposing party to make Washington function (50%) and believing America should focus at home rather than overseas (49%).

The least popular candidate qualities in the poll: fighting for Republican priorities without compromise (33% say it’s extremely important), winning the Iowa caucuses (33%) and being a person of faith (36%).

Notably, former President Donald Trump leads his GOP rivals among the likely Iowa caucusgoers believing these nine different candidate qualities are extremely important.

But there are two categories in which the race is closer.

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Among the 51% of caucusgoers who believe being the “adult in the room” is very important, Trump leads former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, 33% to 20% — with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 17%.

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And among the 50% of caucusgoers who believe it’s very important to work with the opposition, Trump leads Haley 33% to 25%.

The NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of Iowa was conducted Oct 22-26 of 404 likely Republican caucusgoers, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 4.9 percentage points.