AMNA NAWAZ: With the summer campaign season in full swing, the Republican presidential hopefuls are crisscrossing early voting states, hoping to stand out in a growing field of candidates.

Former President Donald Trump, back in Iowa today.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States: Make America great again, that's a very simple -- a very simple statement.

AMNA NAWAZ: With a commanding lead in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination and spouting his familiar and false claims of a stolen election.

DONALD TRUMP: And then you had a rigged election, let's face it.

OK, you had a rigged election.

AMNA NAWAZ: But for some GOP voters who like Trump's message, there are still questions about his style.

RITA MATTSON, New Hampshire Voter: The person I want is so divisive that it's just like, you know, can't you please just get along with people?

AMNA NAWAZ: Others are ready to move on entirely.

RYAN KELLY, Iowa Voter: Trump's really powerful.

You can't dismiss him or undersell him in any way.

But we have already seen that.

AMNA NAWAZ: In Iowa this week, a few hundred people looking for an alternative to Trump packed into this evangelical church auditorium to see his major rival.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) AMNA NAWAZ: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made his first early state appearance as an official candidate, touting his record handling the COVID pandemic and challenging what can be taught in schools.

GOV.

RON DESANTIS (R-FL), Presidential Candidate: In Florida, we proved that all of this can be done.

We chose facts over fear.

We chose education over indoctrination.

We chose law and order over rioting and disorder.

AMNA NAWAZ: Trump has grown increasingly critical of the governor in recent weeks, calling him Ron Disaster and Ron DeSanctimonious.

DONALD TRUMP: If it takes eight years to turn this around, then you don't want him.

AMNA NAWAZ: DeSantis delivered his most forceful pushback yet.

GOV.

RON DESANTIS: He used to say how great Florida was.

Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship.

Are you kidding me?

AMNA NAWAZ: Some voters believe DeSantis offers greater potential to reach beyond the GOP base.

STEVE CAPPAERT, Iowa Voter: I think we need a candidate who won't be divisive and can actually get independents to also vote for him.

AMNA NAWAZ: With half-a-dozen candidates already in the race, other contenders are hoping to catch fire with voters in the critical early nominating states, whether it's former Governor Nikki Haley answering questions about abortion in the Granite State.

NIKKI HALEY (R), Presidential Candidate: I'm being very honest with you.

I can't suddenly change my pro-life position because I'm campaigning in New Hampshire.

AMNA NAWAZ: Or Senator Tim Scott sharing his life story.

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC), Presidential Candidate: When I look back and I look forward in our nation, I understand the misery uniquely that comes with broken pieces and a broken family and a broken heart.

Putting those together for our nation is my responsibility.

AMNA NAWAZ: A strong performance in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina could propel underdog campaigns into competitive spots.

STATE REP. JEANINE NOTTER (R-NH): We absolutely have to win because I think our country is done if we have to do another four years on the current path.

And I'm going to be paying very close attention to see who can win.

AMNA NAWAZ: The candidates will soon have more competition.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and former Vice President Mike Pence are all expected to launch campaigns for the Republican nomination next week.

For an on-the-ground look at the candidates and voters in early states, I'm joined by Kay Henderson, the news director for Radio Iowa and moderator of "Iowa Press" on Iowa PBS, and Gavin Jackson, a reporter for PBS station South Carolina ETV and host of "This Week in South Carolina."

Welcome to you both.

Kay, let's begin in Iowa, the caucuses, of course, still first-in-the-nation for the Republicans, obviously, the candidates showing up there early and often.

How is that resonating with voters on the ground?

What do they tell you they're looking for?

KAY HENDERSON, News Director, Radio Iowa: Well, it depends on the person you ask.

One of the people at a Trump event today said to me, it appears to him that the nomination is Trump's to lose.

When you go to DeSantis' events, they're looking for something different.

They're looking for something new.

In fact, one of the people that I interviewed on Monday told me that he's looking for someone who's not geriatric.

There's a fear among some DeSantis people that putting a rematch of Trump versus Biden would not turn out well for the party.

But Iowans are not by any means making up their minds as a group right now.

They're sampling other candidates, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, the South Carolinians.

There was a small group that met with Vice President Mike Pence earlier in May.

And, of course, he will be coming to Iowa next week to announce he's jumping in the race.

One of the dynamics here is that the more people that enter this race, the likelier that Donald Trump will be able to prevail in the Iowa caucuses, because -- just because of the sheer number of people in the race.

AMNA NAWAZ: Gavin, what about in South Carolina?

What are you hearing from voters there?

GAVIN JACKSON, South Carolina ETV: Yes, similar to what Kay was talking about there, I mean, I just got off of a swing from Tim Scott's campaign launch.

He launched on May 22 in North Charleston.

It was a very similar launch to what we saw with Nikki Haley making her bid in February.

And I followed both of those candidates to the battleground states in Iowa, New Hampshire after their launches in South Carolina.

And a lot of folks are saying the same things in those early voting states, as we're saying here in South Carolina.

They're waiting to see this field gel.

They're trying to see who has the strongest message, since so many people have similar messages, too.

And that's not too dissimilar from what we're hearing from Tim Scott and Nikki Haley, talking about their backgrounds, introducing themselves to voters out there in Iowa, New Hampshire, as we await to hear from more candidates on the ground here in South Carolina.

Obviously, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is stopping in South Carolina on Friday as part of his 12-city swing, a huge kind of campaign launch that we have seen from Ron DeSantis that we didn't see from Tim Scott the other day.

He had a big kickoff in North Charleston, but then he went to Iowa, had one town hall, handled it pretty well, had about 200, 300 people there, had a roundtable with some educators as well, and then went to New Hampshire, and had a small meet-and-greet with some New Hampshire Republican women.

So, a bit different from what we're seeing from Ron DeSantis and from what we saw with Nikki Haley.

She had multiple town hall events too.

So it seems like Tim Scott's really trying to get into campaign mode right now from that listening tour mode.

AMNA NAWAZ: But, Gavin, when you talk to these folks in the early voting states, though, are there particular issues that they're really paying attention to?

We heard Nikki Haley talking about abortion access.

Ron DeSantis has been leaning into this anti-woke message, right?

We heard all the candidates bashing the debt ceiling deal here in D.C.

Does any of that matter to those voters?

GAVIN JACKSON: Yes, you hear a lot about on the stump about anti-woke, fighting against this victimhood stuff that we're talking about, and it gets a lot of applause lines out there.

But, actually, day-to-day voters, that's not the first thing that they bring up when I ask them, what are your top issues?

It's the economy, it's education, it's making sure that the country can move forward.

And so maybe that does have to do with that anti-wokeness, worried about political correctness, and trying to move the country forward, as they see it, has been kind of stagnant under President Joe Biden.

So folks are waiting to hear from more of these candidates.

And, I mean, we're seeing them turnout too.

Nikki Haley has a crowd of about 1,000 people in South Carolina, which was in Myrtle Beach earlier this year.

She got about 500 people in Greer.

I have seen Ron DeSantis when he was making his tour through the state earlier before he declared, and he had about 1,000 people at a church up in Spartanburg on a Wednesday night.

So the momentum is there.

People are interested to hear what these folks have to say.

No one's really making up their mind yet, which is tough for Tim Scott and Nikki Haley, since they're the homegrown candidates here.

They want to win their home state.

And, right now, it's up for grabs.

AMNA NAWAZ: Kay, what about you?

Are you hearing that same thing in terms of priority of issues among the voters?

KAY HENDERSON: Well, I think what it boils down to is, voters are making an evaluation versus style.

And some of them are making an evaluation versus on substance.

And some of them are trying to decide which way they will go, whether they want the candidate that campaigns in the style that they prefer, or the candidate that's -- has the substance that they want.

For instance, there appears to be an emerging debate between DeSantis and Trump about the way the pandemic was handled in Florida versus the way President Trump handled the pandemic in March of 2020 nationwide.

That's turning into a key issue for some voters in Iowa.

And also, when you talk to voters who aren't on the Trump bandwagon at this point, they all say they liked the accomplishments of the Trump presidency.

They just didn't like the style of the Trump presidency and what's been happening over the past couple of years.

And so if they can get over that by -- as a Trump campaign, having these smaller events like they had today, many of the people I talked to after that event today said it was low-key.

He felt more relatable to them.

And he was saying the same things that he says at the big rallies, but it was about style and their connection to him in a smaller setting.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Kay, you mentioned the 2016 primaries, and, obviously, in that crowded field that benefited Donald Trump.

He came in second in Iowa to Ted Cruz.

KAY HENDERSON: Right.

AMNA NAWAZ: But he won New Hampshire.

We are still many months to go.

But does it look like the same thing could happen?

Could a crowded field again benefit Donald Trump?

KAY HENDERSON: Absolutely, because, at this point, it appears, if you look at the polling in Iowa and nationwide, that it's a two-person race, it's a Trump-DeSantis race, with other people hoping to fill a third lane.

And when you have so many people competing, and when you have Trump really going after his main competitor right now, that's a dynamic that really would benefit Trump, if you look at the numbers.

AMNA NAWAZ: Gavin, what's your take on this, especially with two South Carolinians in the race now and South Carolina the first-in-the-South Republican primary?

Could that be a turning point for Haley and Scott?

GAVIN JACKSON: It's going to be critical come February with this -- the primary, of course.

We're going to see what's going on Iowa, New Hampshire.

We're seeing a lot of effort being put into Iowa from both Tim Scott and Nikki Haley.

We have seen some comfort there, some similarities there with Iowa and South Carolina, that they're hoping to work on.

But, of course, it comes down to getting their names out there in places like Iowa, New Hampshire.

Nikki Haley has a little bit more name I.D.

in those places than Tim Scott does.

But Tim Scott has plenty of money to get his name out there on the airwaves right now with, I think, a $6 million ad buy from his campaign, and then his super PAC also throwing about $7 million into some advertising as well.

So it's going to come down to South Carolina in terms of deciding where this race goes forward next year in 2024.

Still a long way away.

We have to wait to see what these polls do.

We have to wait and see what happens on the debate stage.

So a lot will happen.

But if you don't win your home state, that's going to be a little -- probably a turning point there for those guys, for sure.

AMNA NAWAZ: Still a very long way to go.

We can't say that enough.

Kay Henderson and Gavin Jackson from our PBS families in Iowa and South Carolina, thank you for joining us thanks.

GAVIN JACKSON: Thanks.