More than 300 Union County students in grades K-12 cast their votes Tuesday in the largest youth straw poll in Iowa history.
Organized by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, the 2016 Iowa Youth Presidential Straw Poll included more than 50,000 students statewide. Schools encouraged students to vote in both Republican and Democratic Straw Polls. The age groups and grades varied depending on the school.
Participating schools in Union County included East Union, Creston and St. Malachy. Bernie Sanders was Union County’s top Democratic vote-getter on the Democratic side with 40.7 percent, followed by Hillary Clinton with 32.1 percent.
Donald Trump was the clear favorite on the Republican side, earning 28.7 percent and nearly doubling runner-up Dr. Ben Carson, who had 15.9 percent. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio tied for third with 14 percent.
Sanders and Trump also won statewide. Trump garnered 25 percent of the Republican vote, with Marco Rubio sitting in second place with 18.4 percent. Dr. Ben Carson is just behind him with 18.0 percent, and Ted Cruz is in fourth place at 15 percent. More schools are expected to turn in results today.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders was the overwhelming statewide Youth Straw Poll winner with 53 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton finished second at 30 percent, and Martin O’Malley placed third with 10 percent.
“I think it’s important that young people’s voices are heard and that we give them an early opportunity to participate in our elections. I hope this is just the beginning of a lifetime of civics engagement for them,” Pate said. “I also hope Iowa maintains its first-in-the-nation status for a long time. It is vital to this state.”
The Iowa Youth Presidential Straw Poll is part of the Caucus 101 curriculum developed by Secretary of State Pate for Iowa schools.
Pate encouraged schools to conduct both a Democratic and Republican Straw Poll.
All of the presidential candidates submitted videos with messages aimed toward Iowa youth as part of the curriculum. Many schools used those videos to inform the students about each candidate prior to the Straw Poll.
Access the full Iowa Youth Straw Poll results and find school-by-school analysis at http://teachers.caucus101.com/resources/.