Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis collide at an Iowa college football game

• Trump walked through a crowd of Iowa football fans Saturday, but sat in a box
• His challenger DeSantis joined voters in the stands with Gov. Kim Reynolds
• The Florida governor shook hands at the tailgate and took selfies with fans
• Early in the day, Trump donated hamburgers to an Iowa frat house

Republican rivals donald trump and Ron DeSantis clashed with very different styles in the college football showdown between Iowa and Iowa State on Saturday.

Trump was mobbed by fans as he entered the stadium and watched the game from the comfort of a private box, surrounded by his Secret Service detail.

The Florida The governor shook hands at the tailgate, sat in the bleachers with voters and the state’s top Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and took selfies with fans.

The game was presented as a significant first moment of the race for the GOP presidential nomination, with the two candidates squaring off in front of tens of thousands of people in the state where voters have the first say in the caucus race.

The dueling appearances come as Trump continues to hold a large lead in his race for a second term, where he has 52.7 percent of support among Republican voters compared to DeSantis’ modest 13.3 percent, according to reports . FiveThirtyEight’s survey aggregator.

Before entering his tribune, Trump made a stop at an Iowa State University frat house where he flipped burgers and signed footballs for students.

While many applauded the former president, there were also boos and footage circulated of spectators at Jack Trice Stadium twiddling their thumbs.

Another image appeared to show a fan sitting behind DeSantis doing the same.

Before the game started, DeSantis joined the tailgates of the stadium for both the University of Iowa and Iowa State, while Trump opted for an extremely public spectacle by walking through the crowds .

DeSantis joined his jaunt through football fans waiting for Reynolds, who has yet to make an endorsement in the race but has made numerous appearances with the Florida governor in the state in recent weeks.

When asked who he was rooting for, DeSantis said he wouldn’t do “anything to upset” Reynolds, an Iowa State graduate.

His campaign says he has visited more than half of the state’s 99 counties since filing, while Trump has only made five visits to Iowa.

Saturday’s clash between the warring campaigns is the second in a month after they too faced off at the Iowa State Fair.

In a repeat of Trump’s warm Iowa football reception, he also eclipsed his rivals at the fair in a show of strength as his lead in the polls extended further.

While President Biden is looking to make a clean run for the Democratic nomination after Robert F. Kennedy’s bid failed in recent weeks, the Republican race has entered the stage where it usually picks up after Labor Day.

In February, polls showed DeSantis had nearly closed the gap on Trump, with one showing him at 38.8 percent to the former president’s 40.8 percent.

But the favorable support came before DeSantis had even announced his candidacy in May, and a disastrous Twitter launch appears to have been difficult for the Florida governor to overcome.

Despite trailing by nearly 40 points, DeSantis was seen shaking hands and taking selfies with numerous fans at the game alongside Reynolds.

DeSantis and Reynolds joined Carson King, 24, the Iowa native who started a foundation to raise money for the Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the University of Iowa by soliciting money for beer with a funny sign

DeSantis told reporters they were having a good time, saying, “It’s quite an atmosphere, probably a little more civilized than the Florida-Georgia game.”

As expected, with tens of thousands of voters crammed into the stadium, both candidates were met with mixed reactions, with a selfie of DeSantis showing a disgruntled attendee flipping the bird behind him.

Two other Republican presidential hopefuls – North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson – also appeared at the party and reportedly greeted each other.

Hutchinson told reporters he was rooting for the underdog. He said: I’m an underdog in this race and I want the underdogs to win.

This was seen in the same way with the reception Trump received, as the cheering crowd was interspersed with boos and shouts as he moved through the crowd.

His view from the glass box, where he remained in full view of thousands throughout the match, also saw voters applaud and salute him, while others showed their distaste for the former president.

Trump’s dominance of the field in Iowa, where various polls show him with a 25-point lead in the state, led the DeSantis campaign to admit this week that they would be satisfied with a “strong second-place showing.” .

His campaign added that it aims to narrow the contest to a two-horse race in the coming months, with the eight other candidates vying for the nomination seen as dividing the non-Trump electorate.

Early in the day, Trump stopped by the Alpha Gamma Ro Agriculture Fraternity House at Iowa State University to greet a younger crowd, where he flipped burgers and signed footballs before tossing them into the crowd.

Fraternity members chanted “Donald” as the former president made another seemingly popular appearance in the nation’s first voting state.