Iowa!!!

January 3rd, 2012
08:36 PM ET



.. Rebecca Sinderbrand reports.

Iowa Caucus entrance polls: How big a role did late deciders play?

Just last week – after months filled with thousands of campaign ads, and almost as many Pizza Ranch campaign stops - nearly half the likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers in the CNN/Time/ORC survey said they still hadn’t decided which candidate to back tonight (or that they had, but still weren’t completely sold on their choice.)

Tonight, 19 percent of the voters in early entrance polls made their picks in the past month; another 25% made the call in the past few days; and 15 % say they made the decision today – if those numbers hold, that could mean there were fewer late-deciders overall than there were four years ago, when those numbers were 31, 23 and 17.

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January 3rd, 2012
08:46 PM ET



.. Rebecca Sinderbrand reports.

Iowa caucus entrance polls: Independents crash the party

Four years ago, Iowa’s independents had to decide whether to participate in a competitive Republican contest, or an equally dramatic Democratic faceoff. Not this year. That was reflected in the makeup of tonight’s caucuses; the percentage of independents may have more than doubled, from 13% four years ago to 27% in early entrance polls - and 41% of the voters who participated tonight were attending their very first GOP caucus.

The wave of independents may have shifted the ideological needle closer to the center: the percentage of caucus-goers who describe themselves as moderate or liberal has jumped from 12% in 2008 to 20%. But the percentage who call themselves very conservative hasn’t budged: 46% use that description – virtually identical to the 45% who answered that way four years ago.

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January 3rd, 2012
08:36 PM ET



.. Rebecca Sinderbrand reports.

Iowa Caucus entrance polls: How big a role did late deciders play?

Just last week – after months filled with thousands of campaign ads, and almost as many Pizza Ranch campaign stops - nearly half the likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers in the CNN/Time/ORC survey said they still hadn’t decided which candidate to back tonight (or that they had, but still weren’t completely sold on their choice.)

Tonight, 19 percent of the voters in early entrance polls made their picks in the past month; another 25% made the call in the past few days; and 15 % say they made the decision today – if those numbers hold, that could mean there were fewer late-deciders overall than there were four years ago, when those numbers were 31, 23 and 17.