Fresh off Tuesday’s Republican debate, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul made stops in Iowa including two in Ames to meet with ISU students and local supporters.

Paul was at Jeff’s Pizza on Wednesday night speaking to a packed house and talking one-on-one with students. He answered questions while sipping beer, and he shook hands as the attendees chanted “President Paul.”

“It is hard to one get students motivated [and registered] to vote and then getting them out, but it can happen,” Paul said. “President Barack Obama was the last person to get students out and ready to vote. Three to one the student vote went for Barack Obama.”

Paul said Obama did not follow through on his promises to protect privacy rights and has been hawkish on foreign policy despite his promises to end wars. “There’s a lot of ambivalence,” Paul said.

Paul has set a goal of reaching 10,000 college students to support him.

“I’m really a fan of his liberty [message],” said Kelvin Vanderveen, sophomore in animal science. “I don’t believe the government should have such a big impact on every citizen’s life. I think every citizen is bigger than the government.”

Vanderveen also said he thinks it’s a good idea to de-escalate involvement in foreign countries and focus on domestic policies.

Thursday morning, Paul was at the Garden Inn Hilton Hotel in Ames speaking to a smaller crowd for a meet and greet.

“We think we did have a good night in the debate the other night, we’re still wanting to see poll movement,” Paul said, reflecting on the Tuesday debate. “The polls are kind of interesting and somewhat fickle at this point.”

Paul said he thinks a lot of people say they will vote for someone based on how much time they get in the press.

“Most people are just starting to wake up,” Paul said. “There is a chance that we see [Donald] Trump stumble and fall.”

Paul said he doesn’t think that the insults that Trump has been saying will have a lasting effect on voters, and he won’t resonate with voters in the future.

“We’re hoping to see a movement with this last debate, we have a good ground team,” Paul said.

With such a large crowd of candidates, Paul said it would only take about 30,000 votes to win the caucus this cycle.

Austin Dzik, junior in mechanical engineering and president of Students for Rand, hosted a phone bank Thursday night to help identify Republican voters who may support Paul in February’s caucus.

Students for Rand usually tries to get out to do phone banks every other week to reach voters.

“We get a lot more responses when we say that we’re student volunteers,” Dzik said. “We’ve gotten over 500 sign ups; right now we’re working towards a thousand. That’s just students.”

Paul’s tour in Iowa this week also included stops in Council Bluffs, Altoona and Winterset. At an event in Des Moines, Paul unveiled the endorsement of 40 veterans across the state.

Paul will be in New Hampshire on Friday to file for the for New Hampshire primary.