In what was an incredibly close race for both parties, Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton virtually tied and Republican candidate Ted Cruz came out victorious in the Iowa caucuses Monday.
For most of the early evening, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were within 3 percent of each other, with a final margin of less than 1 percent. With 99 percent of polls reported at time of press, Clinton finished with a small lead of 0.2 percent over Sanders’ 49.6 percent. Cruz finished the night with 28 percent of the vote, which was a 4-percent lead over the next runner-up Donald Trump and a 5-percent lead over the third runner up Marco Rubio.
Amol Shalia, president of the Texas Aggie Democrats and geophysics senior, said the closeness of the results was likely because of the widespread support Sanders has garnered due to the attitude and message of his campaign.
“The one thing I can say is that it’s clear that Bernie’s message has found it’s space and he’s starting to build on that revolution that he’s been campaigning about,” Shalia said. “I think that one thing that will be clear … is that this Democratic campaign is going to last a lot longer than initially thought.”
Kirby Goidel, a fellow at the Public Policy Research Institute and communication professor, said that because the race was so close, there was no true victor. He said the near-tie will neither hurt nor help either candidate heading into the rest of the primaries.
“I do buy some of the logic that Bernie Sanders played above expectation, but I don’t think a victory [in Iowa], and especially a more decisive victory for him would have been a really, really big deal,” Goidel said. “A narrow race like this, I don’t think is that big of a deal. I think a big win for Hillary would have been a big deal. Without a solid victory I don’t think it matters as much.”
The Republican race was also relatively close from the beginning. Trump took an early lead, but was later overtaken by Cruz, who maintained the lead until he won with a 4-percent margin.
Heading into the caucuses, many predicted Trump would likely win and that Cruz was the only other candidate who might possibly overtake him. In a statement from the Texas A&M College Republicans, economics sophomore Cannon Tate said they found the results interesting.
“We would like to congratulate Senator Ted Cruz on his win in the Iowa caucus,” Tate said. “The most surprising result was that Senator Marco Rubio was able to clutch the third-place spot. We look forward to seeing how the Republican candidates do in New Hampshire.”
Candidates will now head to New Hampshire for that state’s primaries, which will take place on Feb. 9. The Huffington Post pollster puts Bernie Sanders significantly ahead of Clinton and Trump soundly ahead of Cruz, although those numbers are bound to change dramatically after Monday night’s showing.
Both democratic candidate Martin O’Malley and republican candidate Mike Huckabee confirmed Monday night that their campaigns had been suspended after a poor showing in Iowa.
