2016 U.S. election: delegates won by Democratic candidates
U.S. 2016 Elections: Iowa Democrat caucus - additional information
The Iowa Republican and Democrat caucuses are currently the first major events of the nominating process in the race for the presidency of the United States. In many cases, their results have been indicative of each party’s final nomination. The caucuses usually kick off the beginning of the election year and in 2016 they took place on February 1, while in both 2008 and 2012, they took place on January 3.
The 2016 Democrat caucus had only three candidates left in the race for the nomination, but the battle was expected to be between only two of them, namely former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator and former Congressman Bernie Sanders. While polls have consistently shown Hillary having an advantage of at least three percent in terms of voter support, she has won the Iowa caucus by a very small margin of only four votes. Polls released on January 31 2016 showed her chances decreasing even further, with Sanders expected to win the New Hampshire Democratic primaries on February 9. Having received only eight votes, the third Democratic nominee to reach the primaries, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has withdrawn from the race upon finding out the caucus results on February 1.
The Iowa caucus for the Democratic ballot in 2012 was considerably less exciting, as incumbent president Barack Obama was facing minor opposition from his fellow party members. That year, he went on to winning 98 percent of the votes. He had also won four years prior, with 37.6 percent of the votes, thus defeating Hillary Clinton and former U.S. Senator John Edwards and moving on towards receiving the nomination, as well as the office.