(VOVworld)- On Monday, voters of the Democrat and Republican parties in Iowa voted to select their nominees for the 2016 US Presidential election.

Surprising results

Iowa caucus results announced on February 2 gave former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton a razor-thin victory over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Mrs Clinton took 49.8% Mr Sanders's 49.6%, a difference of just 0.2%, the closest Iowa result in US history. The result was surprising because support for Sanders was higher than in previous polls indicated. For the past 6 months, Clinton has led consistently. In the Republican caucus Texas Senator Ted Cruz surprisingly defeated real estate mogul Donald Trump. Cruz took 27.6% to Trump’s 24.3%. Florida Senator Marco Rubio finished third with 23.1%. This was another surprising result because Donald Trump has consistently been the frontrunner in the Republican contest.

A dramatic race

Following the Iowa caucus, state primary voting will continue in New Hampshire. Though the number of voters in these two states is not high, they are important states because their results often signal the direction of the election. The winner of the Iowa caucus has often gone one to become the US President.  But there have been exceptions. Huckabee won Iowa caucus in 2008 and Santorum won it in 2012, but both of them lost in the general election. Bill Clinton lost in the first 6 state primaries in the 1992 race, but ultimately won the general election. Some states like New York and California always lean toward Democratic candidates and southern states lean toward Republican candidate, so the candidates will concentrate their campaign effort in so-called “swing” states like Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado, and Virginia.