All eyes are on Iowa. Voters in the Hawkeye State will choose between 12 GOP presidential candidates and three Democrats. Be sure to tune in for NPR's live coverage on KBSX 91.5 FM Monday evening, or stream it online.
But should Iowa really be the first state to select a presidential nominee?
NPR looked into this question with a particular focus on the racial makeup of the country. They built the Perfect State Index to look closer at the caucus question:
"Every four years when the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary roll around, the critics and cynics question why such unrepresentative patches of America get to vote first in presidential nominating contests. Why is so much political power, they complain, given to states that are more white and more rural than the rest of the country? So, we attempted to quantitatively evaluate the critique — and try to come up with which states actually were the most representative of the average of the entire country, in what we're calling the Perfect State Index." - NPR
According to their analysis, Idaho ranks 33rd when it comes to which states are closest to the average national numbers around race, age, education, income and religion. Illinois comes in first, while Iowa is 16th.
The fact that Idaho ranks in the bottom half of "perfect" caucus states using the race metric is not surprising. But when the weight is shifted to religious importance, the Gem State aligns closer with the national average of people who call religion "very important" in their lives. According to a Pew Research Center study, the national average is 53 percent while 51 percent of Idahoans agree with this statement.
Click around the full dataviz series NPRcreated here. And Idaho voters: the GOP closed primary is set for March 8, while the Democrats will caucus March 22.
Find Frankie Barnhill on Twitter @FABarnhill
Copyright 2016 Boise State Public Radio
