Florida Sen. Ted Cruz beat Donald Trump by 3.4 points while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton only beat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by tenths of a percent.
All eyes were on Iowa on Monday as the caucus kicked off the election season.
RealClearPolitics polls predicted businessman Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would both win by significant margins — or at least margins that are greater than one-tenth of a point.
Voters went against what the polls predicted, which gave Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a 3.4-point lead over Trump who maintained a 1.2 point over Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
The Democratic caucus finished as predicted, but with a smaller margin than expected. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Clinton were tied neck and neck, with Clinton ending up with 49.8 percent of the vote and Sanders taking 49.6 percent.
Though the Republican caucus was called Monday night, the Democratic caucus was not decided until around noon Tuesday.
After the caucuses, both the Democrats and Republicans had candidates suspend their campaigns.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley released a statement on his website that started, “Friend, I wanted you to be first to know: tonight, I am suspending my campaign for the presidency.”
O’Malley received less than 1 percent of the 15 percent needed to be eligible for delegates in Iowa.
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also released a statement on his website saying he also was suspending his campaign after only receiving 1.8 percent of the vote.
There were 44 delegates available for the Democrats and 30 available for the Republicans.
Clinton will receive 23 delegates and Sanders 21 delegates.
Cruz will get eight. Rubio and Trump each earned seven. Carson won three and Bush, Paul, Fiorina and Kasich each will receive one.
Iowa is one of 13 states that holds caucuses rather than primary elections.
Caucuses differ from primary election because all the registered members of a party gather in one room and vote. In a primary election, voting is generally done in private.
