What do Iowa caucuses do?

A caucus is a meeting or grouping of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.

What do Iowa caucuses do?

Caucuses do not directly select a Presidential candidate, but rather delegates who are then “pledged” to vote for a particular candidate at the party’s national convention. Candidates have to convince their party before they are nominated and put on the ballot.

Iowa Republicans have caucus meetings at 1,657 caucus sites this year. These are essentially party meetings. They have party business they attend to, representatives of each campaign make a short pitch for their candidate and then attendees cast secret ballots.

The GOP caucuses are far less complicated than what Democrats do in the state. Democrats split up and vote by physically gathering with other supporters of a campaign. If a Democratic candidate is below 15%, then that person is eliminated and that candidate’s supporters have to choose someone else.