As more controversy has arisen regarding current United States president Donald Trump over his impeachment trial and foreign policies, attention is being drawn to the 2020 United States presidential election. Accordingly, the primary election results are also gaining worldwide attention.

Primary elections are the nominating process for political parties. Delegates for each political parties are chosen through the primary elections, and the delegates vote the parties’ official nominee at the national convention. The winning candidate become the parties’ official nominee. Among the primary elections, the Iowa caucuses are the first contests.

The 2020 Iowa caucus for both the Republican and the Democratic Party took place on February 3. Since it is the first primary election to be held, the Iowa caucus has been a hugely influential part of the presidential election. For the Republican Party, Donald Trump was challenged by two other Republicans, Bill Weld and Joe Walsh. The event was easily won by Trump. According to The Associated Press, Trump won the Republican contest with 97 percent of the vote. The Democrates however, had technical troubles in their vote reporting systems making it unsure who the winner was. The final polls showed a close competition between the party’s four top-tier candidates Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. Buttigieg and Sanders earned 14 and 12 delegates respectively. It was an unexpected result since former vice president Joe Biden was evaluated as a major candidate along with Sanders. The Associated Press however, decided not to call a winner because of concerncs over the accuracy of the results.

According to an entrance poll conducted by the NBC, about two-thirds of voters participating in the Democratic caucus said that they preferred a nominee who is more likely to win against Trump in the presidential election than a candidate who shares their positions on key issues. Health care led the list of issues that mattered most to Iowa Democrats with about 42 percent selecting it as the most important public policy. Policies regarding climate change, income inequality, and foreign issues were the next to follow, but there was a big gap between them and health care policies.

As of April 2020, Trump has earned majority of delegates and has become the presumptive Republican’s nominee. For the Democrates, Joe Biden is the only remaining candidate and became the presumptive nominee of the Democrates despite the loss in the Iowa caucus, as all candidates have dropped out the race.

As the election of the United States president is an indirect election, voters will vote for the Electoral College1) on November 3, which in turn elects the president in December 14.

1) A body consisting of 538 electors formed for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president of the United States