As of April 3, 2024, results from the 2024 Democratic presidential primaries showed incumbent candidate Joe Biden with more than enough delegates to receive the party's nomination. However, in protest against the President's support for Israel's war against Hamas more than 100,000 Michigan Democrats cast "uncommitted" votes, earning two state delegates. On Super Tuesday nearly 45,000 Minnesota Democrats voted "uncommitted" in protest, surpassing support for Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips and earning four "uncommitted" delegates. Presidential primaries within the sitting president’s party carry less weight compared to those in open-seat elections due to minimal opposition within their party. With widespread support from party members and leaders already secured, incumbent presidents hold considerable advantages in terms of fundraising, campaign infrastructure, and endorsements. While specific rules vary slightly across different states, Democratic primary delegates are awarded based on the share of votes a candidate receives, either statewide or within congressional districts.

As of April 3, 2024, results from the 2024 Republican presidential primaries showed former president Donald Trump with more than 1800 state delegates, more than 600 necessary to receive the nomination. Additionally, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley dropped out of the Republican presidential primary race following a decisive Super Tuesday loss, leaving Trump the last-standing candidate and presumptive nominee. Although ultimately determined by the rules of their respective political parties and state requirements, the number of delegates a Republican candidate receives is usually proportional to the votes their share of votes in each state's primary or caucus.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg won the 2020 Iowa Caucus with a narrow lead, with 26.2 percent of State Delegate Equivalents, compared to 26.1 percent for Senator Bernie Sanders. Former Vice President Joe Biden came in fourth, with 15.8 percent of State Delegate Equivalents.

This statistic shows the number of delegates Democratic Party candidates won during primaries in the race for the nomination to the U.S. presidential election in November 2016. After the primaries, Bernie Sanders had earned a total number of 1,832 delegates.

U.S. 2016 Elections: Iowa Democrat caucus - additional information

The Iowa Republican and Democrat caucuses are currently the first major events of the nominating process in the race for the presidency of the United States. In many cases, their results have been indicative of each party’s final nomination. The caucuses usually kick off the beginning of the election year and in 2016 they took place on February 1, while in both 2008 and 2012, they took place on January 3.

The 2016 Democrat caucus had only three candidates left in the race for the nomination, but the battle was expected to be between only two of them, namely former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator and former Congressman Bernie Sanders. While polls have consistently shown Hillary having an advantage of at least three percent in terms of voter support, she has won the Iowa caucus by a very small margin of only four votes. Polls released on January 31 2016 showed her chances decreasing even further, with Sanders expected to win the New Hampshire Democratic primaries on February 9. Having received only eight votes, the third Democratic nominee to reach the primaries, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has withdrawn from the race upon finding out the caucus results on February 1.

The Iowa caucus for the Democratic ballot in 2012 was considerably less exciting, as incumbent president Barack Obama was facing minor opposition from his fellow party members. That year, he went on to winning 98 percent of the votes. He had also won four years prior, with 37.6 percent of the votes, thus defeating Hillary Clinton and former U.S. Senator John Edwards and moving on towards receiving the nomination, as well as the office.

This data collection provides information on party activist involvement in the presidential nomination process. Surveys of caucus attendees and convention delegates were initially conducted in 1980 at the state conventions in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Delegates from both parties were polled on a variety of issues, including their opinions on candidate qualities, such as record of achievement, moral character, performance on television, knowledge of foreign policy, and most important quality for a candidate. In addition, information was gathered on the party position held by the respondent, degree and type of party participation, opinions on state and national leaders, reasons for being involved in the presidential nomination process, choice for presidential candidate, and membership in other organizations. In 1984, surveys were distributed at the Democratic state conventions in Iowa and Virginia. In 1988, delegates to both the Democratic and Republican state conventions in Iowa and Virginia were polled. Caucus attendees of both parties also completed surveys in 1984 and 1988 in Iowa, Michigan, and Virginia. Other areas of inquiry included attitudes toward the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion, affirmative action, and military spending. Demographic characteristics of respondents, such as religion, ethnicity, education, employment, and income, are provided. In 1992, surveys were distributed to both Democratic and Republican state conventions in Iowa and Virginia. Areas of inquiry included attitudes toward abortion, affirmative action, the federal budget, a national health plan, foreign imports, the environment, United States involvement around the world, congressional term limits, the gasoline tax, homosexuals in the military, taxes, and the death penalty. Respondents were also asked to evaluate each of the candidates on some of these issues. In addition, data were collected regarding party position held by the respondent, degree and type of party participation, opinions on national leaders, nomination choice for presidential candidate, and membership in other organizations. Demographic characteristics of respondents, such as age, sex, religion, income, children, education, race, and military experience, are provided. In 1996, surveys were distributed before the election to both Democratic and Republican state conventions in Iowa and Virginia. Areas of inquiry included involvement in the presidential campaign, voting record, activities performed in 1994 campaigns, party affiliation, and opinions on such issues as abortion, United States involvement around the world, the federal budget, the environment, foreign imports, affirmative action, term limits, a national health plan, control of domestic programs, firearms, and income tax. Respondents were also asked to evaluate candidates on some of these issues. In addition, respondents were asked to rate the job performance of Bill Clinton, the economy, the political philosophy of the candidates, the candidates' performances on TV, and third party candidates. Demographic characteristics of respondents, such as education, age, sex, race, income, and religion, are provided. In 1996, surveys were distributed after the election to both Democratic and Republican state conventions in Iowa and Virginia. Areas of inquiry included voting record in the 1996 election, activities performed in the nomination campaigns for president, money contributed to political organizations, involvement in the 1996 presidential campaign and reasons for involvement, party affiliation, and opinions on such issues as abortion, United States involvement around the world, the federal budget, foreign imports, affirmative action, term limits, a national health plan, control of domestic programs, firearms, and immigration. Respondents were also asked to evaluate candidates on some of these issues. In addition, respondents were asked to give their opinions on the economy, the Reform Party, party positions held, and membership in other organizations. Demographic characteristics of respondents, such as education, age, sex, race, income, and religion, are provided.

This study consists of two analytically distinct parts. The first 351 variables contain information from 2,587 delegates to the Republican and Democratic national nominating conventions of 1972 who responded to a pre-convention mail questionnaire (response rate of 58 percent). Data for the next 381 variables were gathered in post-convention personal interviews with 1,336 respondents selected as a representative sample of delegates. Either segment of the data may be analyzed independently, or the appropriate subset of merged data may be selected. The study focused on the changing role of women in politics, utilizing the nominating conventions as a means of defining and identifying an elite segment of the population and women in politics at one point in time. The mail questionnaire provided information on the nature and composition of each of the national conventions in terms of the delegates' personal life histories, political expectations and aspirations, and attitudes towards candidates, issues, and groups in society and at the conventions. The personal interview built on the pre-convention instrument and examined in depth the candidate selection process, the convention proceedings, and the psychological factors involved in women's political activity. Demographic data include age, sex, race, place of birth, marital status, number of children, ethnicity, education, parents' and spouse's levels of education, occupation, and family income.

This statistic shows the number of delegates Republican Party candidates won during primaries in the race for the nomination to the U.S. presidential election in November 2016. After the primaries, Donald Trump had earned 1,447 delegates.

U.S. 2016 Elections: Iowa Republican caucus - additional information - additional information
The 2016 election year has kicked off on February 1 with the Iowa caucuses, effectively the first step towards the nomination of both the Republican and Democrat candidates for the presidential elections. Although the caucuses get a lot of media attention, they are not necessarily indicative of who would eventually run on either party side. The first Democratic Iowa caucus took place in 1972 and was won by Maine Senator Edmund Muskie. The nomination would eventually go to the Iowa runner up, South Dakota Senator George McGovern, but the elections were eventually won by incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon.

The first Republican caucus in Iowa took place in 1976 and was won by Gerald Ford, with 45 percent of the votes, against former California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was awarded 43 percent of the popular votes. At the time, Ford was the incumbent president, a position which he took over upon Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974. Ford went on to win the GOP nomination, but was narrowly defeated by Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan would run again, successfully, and move on to serve as President of the United States from 1981 to 1989.

In the 2012 Republican primaries, many held Mitt Romney, Former Governor of Massachusetts and the runner-up in the 2008 primaries, as favorite and he did in fact win the nomination, but lost to incumbent President Barack Obama. In the 2012 Iowa primaries, Romney ranked second, after Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, but before Texas Representative Ron Paul. Santorum went on to run for the 2016 nomination as well, but ended his campaign on February 3, after receiving only 1,783 popular votes, and endorsed Marco Rubio. Ron Paul’s son, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul also ran, but suspended his campaign on February 3, after coming in fifth.

The 1860 election cemented the Republican Party's position as one of the two major parties in U.S. politics, along with the already-established Democratic Party. Since this time, all U.S. presidents have been affiliated with these two parties, and their candidates have generally performed the best in each presidential election. In spite of this two-party dominance, there have always been third-party or independent candidates running on the ballot, either on a nationwide, regional or state level. No third-party candidate has ever won a U.S. election, although there have been several occasions where they have carried states or split the vote with major party candidates. Today, the largest third-party in U.S. politics is the Libertarian Party, who are considered to be socially liberal, but economically conservative; in the 2016 election, their nominee, Gary Johnson, secured just over three percent of the popular vote, while their latest candidate, Jo Jorgenson, received just over one percent of the vote in the 2020 election.

Theodore Roosevelt The most successful third-party nominee was Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 election, who was the only third-party candidate to come second in a U.S. election. The former president had become disillusioned with his successor's growing conservatism, and challenged the incumbent President Taft for the Republican nomination in 1912. Roosevelt proved to be the most popular candidate in the primaries, however Taft had already secured enough Republican delegates in the south to seal the nomination. Roosevelt then used this split in the Republican Party to form his own, Progressive Party, and challenged both major party candidates for the presidency (even taking a bullet in the process). In the end, Roosevelt carried six states, and won over 27 percent of the popular vote, while Taft carried just two states with 23 percent of the vote; this split in the Republican Party allowed the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson, to win 82 percent of the electoral votes despite only winning 42 percent of the popular vote.

Other notable performances The last third-party candidate to win electoral votes was George Wallace* in the 1968 election. The Democratic Party had been the most popular party in the south since before the Civil War, however their increasingly progressive policies in the civil rights era alienated many of their southern voters. Wallace ran on a white supremacist and pro-segregationist platform and won the popular vote in five states. This was a similar story to that of Storm Thurmond, twenty years earlier.

In the 1992 election, Independent candidate Ross Perot received almost one fifth of the popular vote. Although he did not win any electoral votes, Perot split the vote so much that he prevented either Clinton or Bush Sr. from winning a majority in any state except Arkansas (Clinton's home state). Perot ran again in 1996, but with less than half the share of votes he received four years previously; subsequent studies and polls have shown that Perot took an equal number of votes from both of the major party candidates in each election.

End-of-year polling shows Donald Trump leading the Iowa Republican presidential caucus by a more than 30 percentage points ahead of Ron DeSantis. The state will hold its 2024 Republican presidential caucus on January 15, 2024

In addition to primaries, some states choose an alternative route by holding caucuses. Unlike primaries, caucuses are closed meetings organized by political parties at the local level, often within counties or precincts. The caucus process includes discussions, the formation of candidate-supporting groups, and formal voting, with delegates assigned based on the results. These delegates then proceed through county, district, and state conventions to refine the selection of candidates, ultimately leading to the national party convention. Iowa's caucus is particularly noteworthy as the first contest in the nation, setting the tone for subsequent primaries and caucuses. The outcomes significantly influence the narrative and momentum of candidates' campaigns as they vie for their party's presidential nomination.

In the final vote in the 2020 Iowa Caucus, Bernie Sanders had 26.5 percent of the statewide popular vote. This compares to 25.1 percent for Pete Buttigieg.

The winner is generally determined by the number of "State Delegate Equivalents" (SDEs), not the popular vote. SDEs are derived from the result in each caucus precinct, meaning the winner of the popular vote may not be the overall winner. This is indeed the case in the final results, which saw Pete Buttigieg having a narrow lead over Bernie Sanders.

The COVID-19 pandemic that spread across the world at the beginning of 2020 was not only a big threat to public health, but also to the entire sports industry. As a result of the COVID-19 containment measures; in March 2020 the Tokyo Olympic Games, which were first scheduled for July 2020 was postponed to July 23rd to August 8th 2021. During a survey undertaken on the 27th and 28th January 2021 in the United States (US), 40 percent of 'Generation Z' respondents indicated their belief that Team US should definitely send a delegation to the Tokyo Olympic Games if they were to be held as scheduled in July and August of 2021, under the condition that all the participating athletes were vaccinated. The share of respondents that held this conviction reduced to only 17 percent if only some of the participating athletes were vaccinated.