WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s the No. 1 question headed into the primary season: Does Donald Trump merely have fans, or does the national front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination have voters who will mobilize come Iowa caucus day?

The definitive answer won’t arrive until first-to-vote Iowa heads to the polls Feb. 1, but interviews with dozens of voters, political operatives, party leaders and campaign volunteers in the past week painted a mixed picture of Trump’s efforts to make sure they do.

Even some of the billionaire real-estate mogul’s most ardent backers wonder whether the political novice has the kind of ground game needed to ensure supporters — especially those new to taking part in a caucus — can navigate a process that isn’t as easy as simply casting a ballot.

But many believe that even if Trump is falling short when it comes to building a get-out-the-vote effort, his supporters are so enthusiastic that it won’t much matter.

“I have a feeling we’re going to actually do better than the polls are saying because there’s a movement,” Trump told supporters in suburban Des Moines last week.

“I don’t know, maybe they won’t,” he added. “But it seems crazy because some of those people were waiting on line for seven hours in the cold.”

Questions about Trump’s turnout effort are magnified by his place alongside Texas Sen. Ted Cruz atop preference polls in Iowa. Republican leaders in the state largely agree that Cruz, popular with the state’s politically savvy evangelical Christians and social conservatives, has the most powerful get-out-the-vote operation among the GOP candidates for president.

Those same observers were mixed when describing what Trump has put together.

“Normally, I at least know the county chairs and I see some organization,” said Gwen Ecklund, chair of the Republican Party in Crawford County.