2016 Iowa Caucus Results – Open Thread

This page will be updated throughout the day with live results and news about the 2016 Iowa Caucuses which take place today. The actual caucusing doesn’t happen until this evening and hopefully we’ll have the results counted tonight unless the vote is very close. The race is very tight on the Democratic side with Bernie Sanders making strong gains on Hillary Clinton in recent weeks. On the Republican side, Donald Trump appears to lead on average by 6 to 8 points depending on the poll. However, the Iowa caucus is notorious for voters making last-minute decisions and the results often looking very different than the polling would suggest.

Iowa Caucus Schedule
Caucus Start: 7pm CT (caucus details)
Caucus Locations: Republican, Democrat

Results expected around 10pm ET.

Republican Caucus Results

CandidateVotesPercent %Delegates
Ted Cruz (winner)5166627.68
Donald Trump4542724.37
Marco Rubio4316523.17
Ben Carson173959.33
Rand Paul84814.51
Jeb Bush52382.81
Carly Fiorina34851.91
John Kasich34741.91
Mike Huckabee33451.8
Chris Christie32841.8
Rick Santorum17831.0
Jim Gilmore120.0
99% Reporting

Democratic Caucus Results

CandidatePercent %Delegates
Hillary Clinton (winner)49.923
Bernie Sanders49.621
Martin O'Malley0.6
100% Reporting

Latest updates throughout the day will appear here, newest at the top:

Update 5 – 8:40pm ET

Entrance polls have been conducted by various organizations, CBS News is reporting entrance interview numbers that look good for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton:

According to CBS News as of 8 p.m. ET, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the early leaders in the Iowa caucuses.

Based in part on interviews CBS News conducted, Trump is leading the Republican field at 29 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz is currently second at 22 percent, while Sen. Marco Rubio is third at 20 percent. Dr. Ben Carson is fourth at 9 percent and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is fifth at 4 percent.

On the Democratic side, Clinton is leading Sen. Bernie Sanders, 53 to 40 percent.

Keep in mind these are just informal entrance interviews asking caucus attendees who they plan to vote for, these are not official results. More to come soon…

Update 4 – 8:19pm ET

The caucuses are now underway. We’ll be hoping for results coming in by 10pm ET but it could be a late night depending on how the new 2016 caucus reporting app pans out. As soon as we start getting results, we’ll be posting the news and all the numbers.

Update 3 – 3:16pm ET

Iowa is bracing for possible record turnout tonight given that the snowstorm is not hitting the state until later in the night. The numbers vary, but anywhere in the neighborhood of 130,000 to 180,000 is possible given the intensity of caucus-goers in this cycle.

In 2012, about 121,000 caucused on the Republican side compared with about 119,000 in 2008. We could possibly see those numbers dwarfed tonight by new voters coming in for Donald Trump.

For comparison, in 2008, the Iowa Democratic caucuses saw 244,000 voters compared to just 125,000 in 2004. The surge in participation was directly due to then-Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy.

Update 2 – 12:27pm ET

The votes haven’t been cast in Iowa yet and already the post-Iowa narratives are taking shape. Regardless of what happens, it looks like the Bush and Rubio camps are set to battle for a spot in New Hampshire and a prize in South Carolina. See full story at CNN.

More various headlines:

Cruz counts down to the caucus with final pitch in Des Moines
Moment of truth for Trump
Quinnipiac poll: First-time caucusgoers boost Trump, Sanders in Iowa

Update 1 – 9:48am ET

Some worthwhile news stories about the caucuses today to get you started:

Donald Trump’s Support In Iowa Is Narrow But Deep
The Iowa Caucuses Count Will Never Be Perfect
Many Iowans won’t decide until today whom to vote for
Clinton, Trump Face First Real Test as Iowans Head to Caucuses

Original story – 5:00 am ET

Report from Fox News:

The first major test for the 2016 presidential candidates is now just hours away with the Iowa Caucus on Monday — its outcome a likely sign of whether front-running Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump can hold their leads or if the unpredictable and often-angry electorate has other plans.

Trump and Clinton made their closing arguments Sunday, barnstorming across Iowa and battling on the political shows, in a final effort to beat back close rivals like Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, both eager for an upset in the first-in-the-nation balloting.

“Thirty six hours from now, the men and women of Iowa are going to caucus,” Cruz, who is trailing Trump in Iowa by roughly 5 percentage points, told “Fox News Sunday.” “And we have a grassroots army. We’ve got 12,000 volunteers in the state.”

Still, Cruz, who argues that he’s the true conservative in the GOP field, was, like the rest of this year’s White House candidates, steering clear of predicting a win, then having to face the fallout from a loss or even a below-expectations finish.

“Right now, this is all about turnout,” said Cruz, a Texas senator in a close race for second with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. “This is all about who shows up tomorrow night at 7. … If conservatives come out, we will win.”

Sanders, a Vermont independent, told ABC’s “This Week”: “I think we have a shot to win it, if people come out.”

His populist message about the economy being “rigged” against the middle class and “billionaires buying elections” has resonated with the largely disaffected and angry electorate and has posed a clear alternative to the Clinton political dynasty.

More updates today as news caucus news breaks. Stay tuned for the action this evening!


Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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