Iowa caucus results: Why the race was so close
CBS
According to a CBS News poll of voters entering the caucuses, however, each of these candidates forged a markedly distinct constituency. If these bases hold up moving forward, it could be quite a competitive race for the Republican nomination.
Full Iowa results
Full Iowa entrance poll results
Mitt Romney assembled a coalition of older, wealthier, more temperate Republicans who cared much more about winning the general election than his conservative credentials or religious background.
Romney was the preferred choice among mainstream Republicans. A third of Iowa caucus goers were self-identified Republicans who considered themselves somewhat conservative or moderate on political matters. Romney won a sizable plurality of these groups, receiving support from 37 percent of somewhat conservative Republican voters and 48 percent from moderate Republican voters. This bodes well for Romney in upcoming contests with less conservative Republican electorates than Iowa, such as Florida and Nevada.
Romney received strong support from wealthy voters. Among those 27 percent of caucus goers with family incomes of $100,000 or more, Romney won 36 percent support. This far surpassed the support of Santorum his closest competitor who received only 23 percent of their vote.
Romney also received solid backing from senior caucus goers. Of the quarter of attendees who were 65 years of age and older, Romney garnered 32 percent of their votes. This easily outpaced Rick Santorum and New Gingrich who secured respectively 19 and 17 percent of their vote.
Romney's appeal was clearly driven by perceptions that he can win the general election. Of all the candidates on the ballot, a greater proportion of Romney's supporters - 63 percent - indicated that his ability to defeat Barack Obama was his most important candidate quality. Twenty-two percent cited his experience as the candidate quality that mattered most in their vote for him, 11 percent cited his moral character, and only 1 percent cited his conservatism.
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Full CBS News coverage: Mitt Romney
Rick Santorum drew his support primarily from evangelicals and Tea Partiers, the two most hotly contested groups during the campaign. More than half of Iowa caucus-goers - 58 percent - described themselves as born-again or evangelical Christian. Of these Santorum secured 32 percent of their support, the only candidate to top 20 percent. Although nowhere near the 46 percent received by Mike Huckabee, it still proved enough to push him to the forefront Tuesday night. If Santorum can unite the support of evangelicals in upcoming states, such as South Carolina and Missouri, he will continue to be a formidable opponent.
Santorum also did quite well with voters identifying with the Tea Party. Among Iowa caucus goers, 34 percent strongly supported the Tea Party movement. Santorum secured 30 percent of their votes, easily outpacing Newt Gingrich who received 17 percent of their support.
Santorum's supporters were clearly attracted by his religious character. Roughly a third (32 percent) of his supporters reported his position on abortion mattered more than any other issue in their vote. Moreover, 40 percent of his supporters identified his strong moral character as the candidate quality that mattered most to them. No other candidate topped these numbers on either measure.
Full CBS News coverage: Rick Santorum
The Young and the RestlessRon Paul's libertarian, isolationist message appealed to young and independent voters on Tuesday night. Paul was the preferred choice of young people, who comprised 31 percent of caucus goers. He was backed by 48 percent of those under 30 years of age. Among Gen X-ers - those caucus goers between 30 and 44 years of age - Paul won a plurality, receiving 28 percent of the vote.
Similarly, Paul won the support of the 38 percent of voters attending their first Iowa Republican presidential caucus. He received 34 percent support from first time caucus-goers, easily outpacing Santorum and Romney who received respectively 22 percent and 17 percent support.
Paul also attracted considerable backing from self-identified independents. Independents comprised nearly a quarter - 23 percent - of caucus-goers. Paul won a whopping 44 percent support from them, compared to only 18 percent for Romney and 13 percent for Santorum.
Although few political observers give Paul much of a chance to be the Republican nominee, it was this combination of young and independent voters that propelled Barack Obama to victory in Iowa and eventually the Democratic Party nomination in 2008. It is worth noting that Ron Paul had the most passionate support of any of the candidates Tuesday night. Nearly three quarters (73 percent) of his voters strongly favored him, compared to 63 percent for Santorum, 62 percent for Perry, 58 percent for Gingrich and only 56 percent for Romney.
Full CBS News coverage: Ron Paul
Iowa's bad track record for picking GOP winners
Full GOP Primary Results
Poll results discussed in this article are based on a National Election Pool entrance poll conducted by Edison Media Research. Interviews were conducted with 1737 caucus attendees as they entered caucus sites around the state. The margin of error for the poll is +/-2 percentage points.
Inside the Iowa caucuses
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One question folks. Which candidate sponsored audit legislation (HR 1207) that lead to the exposing the 16 TRILLION dollars in secret Federal Reserve bailouts to banks and foreign corporations in 2010? His name is Dr. Ron Paul!!!!! $16 Trillion is more than our entire $15 trillion national debt. This is why the Wall Street establishment wants you to vote for someone else. Wake Up!!!!
Ron Paul has warned his supporters for three decades and more about the dangers of a fraudulent fractional reserve banking system in the hands of private central bankers, and no one can legitimately argue any longer that those concerns have not been justified.
in iowa,,,the weather was perfect,,,,so what is all the hype
of only 110,000 voters showing up to vote,,,,republican ought to
be ashamed for drawing less than 5 % of the voters,,,maybe there is a different problem for candidates other than what news is broadcasting
Comment #1: Having an annual income of $100M does not make an individual wealthy.
Comment #2: I'd like to know the source of this information, and how it was obtained. I'm skeptical about its accuracy.
Comment #3: Reporters don't seem to make this type of observation after Democrat causes / primaries, even though there are lots of Democrat voters with incomes over $100M.
They'd do far better to throw the red-headed stepchild (the TeaBaggers) out on their ears, and make them stand alone. The TeaBaggers politics are, in the most part, directly opposed to those of the Republican Party. However, they also know that, if they did that, they wouldn't even come close to being able to collect enough votes to win a general election.
So the "true" Republican candidates have to at least pretend to pander to the TeaBagger interests. But you can't really support two diametrically opposed positions. A truly moderate Republican candidate might stand a fairly good chance of beating President Obama in November, 2012. But no Republican candidate can actually hold a truly moderate stance, because they have to pander to the TeaBaggers if they hope to win enough votes.