After a delay with the Iowa Caucus voting app, many voters became upset with the process. It took a while to calculate the results, largely because voters had never used the app before. The Caucus took place on Monday, but results have not released... until now!
By just one delegate (0.1%), Pete Buttigieg won Iowa with 26,2% of the votes. His closest competitor, Bernie Sanders, lost by just 0.1% of the votes. It was a significant victory for Buttigieg because he had been polling fourth in most of the early polls. Elizabeth Warren placed third with 18.0% of the votes, and arguably the biggest surprise was Joe Biden placing fourth. Being the vice president for 8 years, many pollsters believed he would do very well in Iowa. However, it is still far from being over.
Why does the Iowa Caucus matter? First of all, the Iowa Caucus is the first chance for Americans to vote for who they believe the president should be. And historically, candidates who do well in the Iowa Caucus go on to win the presidency: Presidents George W. Bush and President Obama both won the Iowa Caucus before they went on to win the presidential election.
The next primary is in New Hampshire on February 11, another significant primary for the candidates. Like Iowa, many of the candidates invest a ton of money into advertising and rallies in New Hampshire. Tonight is the Democratic Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Back to the Iowa Caucus: does everyone believe that it should be the first state to hold a caucus?Some say that Iowa is a less diverse state with a much larger rural population. After all, it only has the 31st highest population when compared to the 50 states.
As a closing note, while the results are now officially published, candidates do have until tomorrow to challenge the results, so it is unclear whether or not Sanders will do so. If you have not done so already, subscribe to our blog by filling out the form on our website header!
Credits:
World Population Review: http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/
Interesting point about whether or not Iowa should be the first state to hold a primary vote. The lack of diversity seems like it could propel candidates forward that don't have broad national appeal or represent the greater population's interests. Thanks for sharing!