Why caucuses are the primary test in the race for the White House

Starting February 3, the nomination process for

US presidential candidates

is officially underway. Through state-wise contests called primaries and caucuses, beginning with the Iowa caucuses, presidential hopefuls will try to gather support among voters to become their party’s official nominee over the next few months.


What are primaries and caucuses?
Before a presidential candidate gets their name on the ballot for election day, they must survive a nomination process, called primaries or caucuses, which whittle down the field of candidates to one for each party.

Primaries and caucuses, often collectively referred to as primaries, are state level indirect elections in which candidates fight for delegates — individuals who represent their states at the national party convention, where the nominee is officially chosen. The objective is to collect as many delegates as possible over the course of the primaries, which are designed to democratise the process by which presidential candidates are selected.

What’s the difference between primaries and caucuses?
Caucuses are local meetings financed by a party and attended by party members. Attendees spend several hours discussing candidates before voting in several rounds, using a head count or a show of hands, on who their delegates will ultimately support.

Primaries are held by state governments. Voting in primaries is conducted at polling stations via secret ballot and in some cases is not restricted to registered party members.

Who are the delegates?
In primaries, voters choose their preferred candidates, who in turn receive a share of the delegates in the state based on the result. Democrats generally award delegates on a proportional basis — for example, 20% of the vote equals 20% of the state’s delegates. Republicans have a system that varies by state — proportional, winnertakes-all or a combination.

The number of delegates allocated to each state is decided by the national party organisation based on the population of the state and its voting history, among other factors. The delegates are often party activists, local political leaders, or early supporters of a given candidate.

At the end of all the primaries and caucuses, delegates gather to choose their nominee at the party’s national convention event. By then, a clear nominee generally emerges resulting in a largely ceremonial national convention, where candidates with little support are expected to “release” their delegates to the leading candidate as a show of party unity. In 2008, when Hillary Clinton had won just 22% of the delegates compared to Barack Obama’s 72%, she chose to pledge support to Obama.

What makes the Iowa caucuses so important?

It has traditionally been the first caucus and tends to set the tone for the rest of the nomination process, which is why candidates spend a considerable amount of time and money campaigning in the Midwestern state of just over 3 million people, and only 41 Democratic delegates and 38 Republican delegates this year.

The Iowa caucuses rose to prominence in the 1970s, when changes to Democratic party rules forced the caucus to be held earlier than usual. In the 1976 election, little-known candidate Jimmy Carter used strong performance in the Iowa caucus to launch himself to the presidency. In 1980, Republicans changed their nomination calendar too, putting Iowa first.

What do the Iowa results mean for the rest of the campaign?

The Iowa caucus, though not considered make-or-break, usually narrows the field to a handful of candidates. A win in the Iowa caucus will be a boost through the remainder of the nomination season as it sends an early signal to voters and donors.