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Iowa Democrats feel the Bern
Cruz wins Iowa the old-fashioned way and Presidential election in Iowa, 2016
This article covering the 2016 presidential election was written outside the scope of Ballotpedia's encyclopedic coverage and does not fall under our neutrality policy or style guidelines. It is preserved as it was originally written. For our encyclopedic coverage of the 2016 election, click here.
 Date: November 8, 2016 |
Winner: Donald Trump (R) Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates |
Important dates • Nominating process • Ballotpedia's 2016 Battleground Poll • Polls • Debates • Presidential election by state • Ratings and scorecards |
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February 2, 2016
James A. Barnes is a member of the CNN Decision Desk and he helped to project the Democratic and Republican winners in Iowa.
Month by month, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders chipped away at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s once massive lead in the polls as the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. And with a handful of precincts still outstanding, Sanders essentially managed to tie Clinton in the Iowa Democratic Caucuses.
The television networks’ “entrance poll,” a survey of a representative sample of Democrats as they entered their caucus sites, found a dramatic age gap in the results. Sanders’ success was driven by the overwhelming support he received from the youngest cohort of Democrats: he won six-to-one among those aged 17-to-29, who attended the Democratic caucuses. Those voters made up a little less than one-fifth of the total caucus electorate. Conversely, Clinton carried the senior vote. Among 65 years old or more, Clinton beat Sanders by roughly 40 percentage points. But they made up about 10 percent more of the total Democratic caucus electorate.
There was also a notable gender gap between Clinton and Sanders. A majority, 57 percent, of the Democratic caucus attendees were women and Clinton won that group by about 10 percentage points. Among men, Sanders prevailed, but by only about six percentage points.
Pending the final results, Clinton did well in the counties that John Edwards carried in the 2008 Iowa Democratic Caucuses: she won 26 of the 30 counties that the North Carolinian won four years ago. Among the 40 counties that Barack Obama carried on his way to an Iowa victory in 2008, Clinton won 21 and Sanders took 19. Curiously, Clinton lost 14 counties to Sanders that she won in 2008. Most of them were rural counties, but two on the western edge of the state contained cities; Pottawattamie (Council Bluffs) and Woodbury (Sioux City).
The Iowa Democratic Party announced that 171,109 people participated in their caucuses. That is a drop from the record set in 2008, when roughly 239,000 caucused for the Democrats, but significantly higher than the 2004 Democratic turnout of 124,000, the previous second highest turnout mark.
For election and demographic information by county, please click on the below maps.
| Color Key |
|---|
| Winning candidate |
| Bernie Sanders |
| Hillary Clinton |
James A. Barnes is a senior writer for Ballotpedia and co-author of the 2016 edition of the Almanac of American Politics. He has conducted elite opinion surveys for National Journal, CNN and the on-line polling firm, YouGov.
See also
- Cruz wins Iowa the old-fashioned way
- Presidential election in Iowa, 2016
- Presidential Nominating Index: Clinton rules, but Sanders also rising
- Presidential Nominating Index: GOP elites tilt to Trump
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Presidential election, 2016/Polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
- Presidential election, 2016/Straw polls
