Presidential election season is now under way!
Last Monday, the Iowa caucus took place, and it was full of surprises and political “upsets,” if you will. An unprecedented number of voters turned out for the exciting event, including record numbers of young voters and Latin voters.
Perhaps the biggest shock of the night, was Donald Trump’s loss to Ted Cruz. Trump has seemingly been leading the republican polls for months, so the loss took many Iowans (and attentive non-Iowan observers) by surprise. Cruz, Trump, and Mark Rubio’s numbers were all fairly close, and the polls for the next primary election are projecting another close run, so the republican race should be an exciting one, to say the least.
On the other end of the political spectrum, the democrat race narrowed down to two contenders after Martin O’Malley, who received less than one percent of the state’s votes, suspended his campaign. Contrarily, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both experienced great success in Iowa, and while Clinton came out of the caucus with about 0.3% more of the votes than Sanders, the numbers were too close to call her victory definitive. Watching the numbers as they were reported was a true nail biter! Both candidates celebrated a victory that night.
The next primary election will take place in New Hampshire this coming Tuesday; according to polls, the frontrunners for that election are Trump and Sanders, both by a sizable margin. Be sure to tune in for that round of voting, and get ready for the Ohio primaries on March 15!