Contact CU Independent Features Editor Maggie Wagner at magdalen.wagner@colorado.edu.
Monday night’s Iowa caucuses marked the beginning of the end in the battle for the 2016 presidential nominations. Polls closed at 8 p.m., and after a close three-way race for first between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, the Associated Press announced Cruz as the Republican winner with 27.7 percent of the vote. Trump was close behind with 24.3 percent and Rubio with 23.1 percent.
The Democratic winner has yet to be called, but as of 1:18 a.m. MST Tuesday morning, Hilary Clinton is only slightly ahead with 49.9 percent of the vote, and Bernie Sanders at 49.5. According to AP, some precincts in Iowa failed to report their results, resulting in the delay of the final vote count.
Leading up to the caucuses, the Des Moines Register and Bloomberg Politics took a final poll to assess public opinion among likely caucus goers in Iowa. The poll put Trump ahead at 28 percent, with Ted Cruz falling at 23 percent. In the same poll, Clinton landed in the lead with 45 percent, with Sanders at 42 percent.
New Hampshire’s primary — where the polls are shaping up quite differently — is next on the road to determining presidential nominations for both parties on Tuesday, Feb. 9. For a breakdown of how caucuses and primaries work, visit this site.
UPDATE: The Democratic caucus has officially been called for Clinton in one of the tightest votes caucuses in Iowa history. Clinton will receive 23 delegates, and Sanders will receive 21.
