WOW - Sanders beat 2008 Obama among first time caucus-goers in Iowa!

[thesquanderer]

Last edited Sat Feb 6, 2016, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Obama inspired exceptional first-time voter support in 2008... but Bernie did even better!

a whopping 44 percent of those coming to a Democratic caucus this year were doing it for the first time. Of those, Sanders whipped Clinton 59 percent to 37 percent. Even more surprising, back in 2008 Obama netted only 41 percent of first-time attendees.

http://www.bnd.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/answer-man/article58630233.html

[onehandle]

1. ...and still lost. nt

[cali]

5. Look at what? The overwhelming favorite's huge win?

Which is now under a big fat dark cloud.

[leftofcool]

11. Yep! And Obama had the Dems on his side. Bernie won't

[Vote2016]

2. We are not going to win in November without exciting new progressive voters.

[HooptieWagon]

10. Very true.

If Democrats are going to win in Nov, they need to attract youthful voters and address their concerns. Heading the ticket with a candidate who is already doing that will go a long way.

[cyberswede]

3. 90% of the new caucus goers at my precinct were for Sanders

I hope they stay engaged. Some volunteered for party committees & some stepped up as delegates to the county convention. It's good for the party.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. Incredible!

thanks for this

[JudyM]

6. So how is it that overall caucus turnout was so much lower than for Obama?

I don't get this. Like many of the Obama supporters didn't show up?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

7. A lot of people got burnt out on politics after campaigning Obama turned out not to be

the same person as governing Obama.

[mhatrw]

12. Also, we are not coming off 8 terrible years of Dubya. nt

[JudyM]

16. So maybe we'll get a big surge in the GE because whoever the rethought put up will be hideously bad.

[JudyM]

15. Hm, maybe so. Sad.

[enid602]

8. not wow

2008 was a three way race.

[thereismore]

13. Technically, so was 2016. But you knew that. nt

[DanTex]

14. Yes, it's exactly the same. Three viable candidates splitting the vote, versus O'Malley

getting so small a turnout that he ended his campaign that same day.

Very good observation.

[aaaaaa5a]

9. Impressive numbers however.....

Let's not forget there were more viable candidates in the 2008 Iowa race. New voters were spread over more candidates. The truth is if Obama had faced only 1 viable candidate in 2008, he probably hits or exceeds Bernie's percentage mark.

[thesquanderer]

17. Good point. Edwards had youth appeal, too. (n/t)