Iowa Caucus 2020

The 2020 presidential primaries are rolling forward. Iowa’s caucus results are back and we have our first look into where the votes may lead.

Primaries are usually secret ballots, where voters are anonymous, but some states, like Iowa, hold their voting in the form of a caucus. In a caucus, members of the same party meet and discuss who they think will be the best candidate. Only a handful of states and territories still use caucuses, such as Nevada, American Samoa, North Dakota, and Wyoming.

Monday night, Iowa’s caucus didn’t go as planned, one party leader calling it a ‘Systemwide Disaster’, with many news headlines sharing a similar sentiment. The Iowa Democratic Party planned to use a new app for voting, but many people were confused about how it worked and precinct chairs had not been trained either. This, mixed with faults in the app caused a long delay for results, though eventually they were released late Tuesday.

“The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster,” Trump tweeted.

This was a rocky start to the Democratic primaries, and some republicans jumped at the opportunity to comment on the opposing party.

“The Democrats want to run a Country, and they can’t run a Caucus,” said Brad Blakeman from Fox News.

While the race had seemed tight between Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren, and Biden, only the first two seem to have any real chance so far. Currently, Pete Buttigieg holds the lead 1.6% above Bernie Sanders.

While it’s only the start of the primaries, the last set for early June, it’s also our first insight into who the candidates for the general election may be, and despite the mess that was Iowa Democratic Party’s voting app, many news outlets point out that the biggest problem for Democrats was the low voting turnout. 

“What we know right now is that around 25% of precincts have reported, and early data indicates turnout is on pace for 2016,” the party’s communications director, Mandy McClure, said.

Trump currently has the highest Gallup approval rating of his candidacy, and the start of the primaries was less than neat, but the primaries have just started and it’s unclear if one democratic candidate will truly take the lead. The New Hampshire primaries will take place on the 11th, Nevada’s on the 22nd, and it could be anyone’s game. 

Image from Flickr