The Iowa Republican Party set a record for GOP caucus turnout last night, with nearly 186,000 participants. The party hopes this means good things for November since many of these caucus goers are new voters.
"We're looking at this data and we're saying, 'Wow, we have enthusiastic voters.' And if you can capture them and work with them, you know we have a really great shoot at turning Iowa red for the presidential election," says Charlie Szold of the Iowa GOP.
Szold attributes the record turnout to Iowans wanting a new direction for the country, as well as the large number of Republican presidential candidates running competitive campaigns.
The GOP’s previous caucus record was 122,000 in 2012. The 2008 Democratic caucus turnout is the all-time record for either party; 239,000 people participated.
In 2016 more than 171,000 Democrats caucused, or about 15,000 fewer people than Republicans.
