Entrance poll shows dip in first-time Iowa caucusgoers

Voters participate in a caucus at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Feb. 3, 2020. - Copyright Eric Thayer Reuters

By Daniel Arkin with NBC News Politics

Published on 04/02/2020 - 03:50

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This year's level of new participants is well shy of that in 2008, when a whopping 57 percent of Democrats said they had never caucused before.

Iowa's presidential caucuses were expected to draw record turnout Monday, but early data from the NBC News entrance poll show a big dip in participants attending a Democratic caucus for the first time.

The entrance poll showed just about a third of voters — 35 percent — caucusing this year are first-timers, a lower level than in 2016, when first-timers made up 44 percent of the Hawkeye State's Democratic caucusgoers.

And this year's level of new participants is well shy of that in 2008, when a whopping 57 percent of Democrats said they had never caucused before.

This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.

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US politics