The night of the Iowa Democratic caucus ended in chaos and without an announced winner. One thing that is clear: Climate change was a top priority among caucus-goers. More than one in five Iowa caucus-goers said climate change mattered the most to them when deciding whom to support. That made the issue of rising global temperatures the second-most important issue among Iowa voters, after the perennially important issue of health care, according to a preliminary entrance poll conducted by Edison Media Research for The Washington Post and other media organizations. Climate change ranked above both foreign policy and income inequality.
This solidifies a major shift, since climate change for years has been considered an afterthought among voters and candidates alike.
The Iowa Democratic Party said it will release the result of the caucus itself on Tuesday. The state’s first-in-the-nation caucus system broke down Monday night as party officials struggled to synthesize incoming voting totals from the nearly 1,700 precincts. Those seeking the Democratic nomination spent much of the past year contrasting themselves with President Trump on climate change, which the president has dismissed as a “hoax” and to which his administration has paid little regard as it rolls back regulations.