# NPR found Iowans who have never heard of the caucuses **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 8, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535 "2016-01-08T22:42:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/21 "2016-01-10T22:42:17Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > New Hampshire is little and crowded. Iowa is big and empty, making it easier to miss candidates if you don’t get out much. A lot of people only watch CBN, the Hallmark Channel, and those retro TV channels, which don’t attract many political ads. I find it perfectly believable that many Iowans are unfamiliar with the caucuses. So the ad placers don’t realize that there are channels that lots of people in their target demographics view so they don’t buy ad time on them? This seems odd to me. I’d think you’d run ads that you want lots of people to see. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/22 "2016-01-10T23:53:44Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > I suspect that in any group of people, including people who are interested in politics, you would find large groups that have no idea what a caucus is. I follow some politics and watch C SPAN and even I don’t really know what a caucus is. Most places. But not in Iowa in an election year. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/23 "2016-01-11T00:03:45Z")
WA has a caucus, and almost nobody I know is aware that exists. We also have a primary which is strictly advisory to the caucus and has no bearing on how delegates are awarded. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/24 "2016-01-11T00:04:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > WA has a caucus, and almost nobody I know is aware that exists. I attended one. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/25 "2016-01-11T00:05:26Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > I suspect that in any group of people, including people who are interested in politics, you would find large groups that have no idea what a caucus is. I follow some politics and watch C SPAN and even I don’t really know what a caucus is. Not knowing what a caucus is is a completely separate thing from never hearing the word before. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/26 "2016-01-11T01:44:32Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > WA has a caucus, and almost nobody I know is aware that exists. We also have a primary which is strictly advisory to the caucus and has no bearing on how delegates are awarded. I guess some people \*here \*are not aware of the difference in magnitude between “The Iowa Caucus” and “the [some other state’s name here] caucus”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/27 "2016-01-11T02:38:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > WA has a caucus, and almost nobody I know is aware that exists. We also have a primary which is strictly advisory to the caucus and has no bearing on how delegates are awarded. Because it’s not the _Iowa_ Caucus. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/28 "2016-01-11T04:16:12Z")
It’s the word. “Have you ever caucused?” is different than, “Hey, are you aware that presidential candidates are running around Iowa right now looking for support?” I’m not surprised if some significant subset of the population is confused by the former; just about everyone will be at least tangentially aware of the latter. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/29 "2016-01-11T05:58:30Z")
You may be right. I hope so! The NPR reporters should have done some followup to try to establish whether this is the case. ETA: It’s still weird for Iowans to have never even \*heard \*the word “caucus”, as opposed to just being unclear on what exactly it is or how it works. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/30 "2016-01-11T06:58:13Z")
I think there’s also the freeze factor. Point a camera at somebody and ask them what their middle name is and a significant portion won’t be able to answer the question. Some people just can’t think when they know there’s attention focused on them. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/31 "2016-01-11T09:23:04Z")
People in this country will tell tales of canvassing voters who claim not to know there’s an election going on, and even saying they can’t go to vote on Thursday, but maybe next week, ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/32 "2016-01-11T15:49:19Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > WA has a caucus, and almost nobody I know is aware that exists. We also have a primary which is strictly advisory to the caucus and has no bearing on how delegates are awarded. That’s not quite correct. In 2016, the Republicans will use the primary to allocate their delegates. For the past several cycles they’ve switched between using caucuses only and using a split between the caucuses and the primary. The Democrats use caucuses. But again, the candidates don’t tend to come here - there aren’t several months of news cycles about the Washington caucus/primary (both local and national). There aren’t unending ads about the upcoming election-y things for four months straight prior to the dates. It’s understandable that someone wouldn’t know that there’s a caucus here. In Iowa, they’re inundated with news about the caucuses. I can see not going or not understanding how they work (caucuses are weird) - but I can’t see not having heard of them at all. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/33 "2016-01-11T17:18:04Z")
So, we don’t know anything about the background of these ignorant people – whether they moved there last week or have been there all their lives? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/34 "2016-01-11T20:37:57Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > But again, the candidates don’t tend to come here - there aren’t several months of news cycles about the Washington caucus/primary (both local and national). There aren’t unending ads about the upcoming election-y things for four months straight prior to the dates. It’s understandable that someone wouldn’t know that there’s a caucus here. In Iowa, they’re inundated with news about the caucuses. I can see not going or not understanding how they work (caucuses are weird) - but I can’t see not having heard of them at all. This. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/35 "2016-01-11T20:45:19Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > So, we don’t know anything about the background of these ignorant people – whether they moved there last week or have been there all their lives? From the rest of the article: > [@](#): > > Luna, the store owner, isn’t an American citizen yet, so she couldn’t vote in the caucuses, even if she wanted to. But her daughter Jackie Guzman says she can caucus. But she told me that no one has ever come to West Liberty to tell her how. Jackie and her mother Maria think that’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/36 "2016-01-12T16:06:01Z")
> [@FightMyIgnorance](#): > > Not that I believe you’re wrong, but cite? > [@Frank](#): > > It struck me as high also. The figure purports to come from a Department of Education study in 2013, but I can’t trace it beyond a [HuffPo](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/illiteracy-rate_n_3880355.html) link to something called the [Statistic Brain Research Institute](http://www.statisticbrain.com/number-of-american-adults-who-cant-read/), and don’t have time right now to dig deeper. (Got to get ready for work.) That was the summary I was quoting. Here’s the [source](https://nces.ed.gov/naal/kf_demographics.asp#2). It categorizes them as “Below Basic”. Not necessarily people who literally can’t read anything, but people who can’t effectively function with the written word. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/37 "2016-01-12T17:18:32Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > From the rest of the article: See, that doesn’t surprise me at all. They aren’t even going to go after someone who is a recent immigrant, and recent immigrants are isolated by language and culture. I could also picture some people who live out in the boonies with few if any neighbors never seeing anyone, if they’re the type that don’t go to town too often and throw away junk mail. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/38 "2016-01-12T19:44:01Z")
Except an NPR political reporter ran across them. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535/39 "2016-01-18T23:15:12Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > WA has a caucus, and almost nobody I know is aware that exists. We also have a primary which is strictly advisory to the caucus and has no bearing on how delegates are awarded. Wow, now that’s how you do it - distract everyone with a fake primary while the real work is done in a caucus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-found-iowans-who-have-never-heard-of-the-caucuses/742535.md?page=1)