Evaluating the Impact of the 2024 Iowa Caucuses on Youth Perception of Politics

As polarization in United States politics becomes more extensive, the youth vote can play a greater role in determining the outcome of the presidential election. The Iowa Caucuses are the first major political event in the election cycle, and at this event, Iowans can interact with politicians in person. Although both the youth vote and the Iowa Caucuses could dictate election results, minimal youth attend the Iowa Caucuses. In 2024, though, 21 high-schoolers attended the Iowa Caucuses to be student journalists as a part of the 2024 Presidential Iowa Caucus Workshop hosted by KidUnity. Observing how these high schoolers’ perceptions of presidential candidates and politics changed after attending the Iowa Caucuses provides insights into how this event could serve as a valuable tool to increase political learning. Very little prior literature in this field of inquiry connects youth political involvement with the Iowa Caucuses. Therefore, this study aimed to bridge this gap through a mixed-method survey that assessed the perceptions high-school students had of presidential candidates and politics before and after attending the Iowa Caucuses. Results displayed that the student journalists' knowledge about politics and candidates grew after attending the Iowa Caucuses. Furthermore, the majority of respondents favored candidate Nikki Haley more and candidate Ron DeSantis less after the Caucuses. Subpopulation data conveyed that female survey respondents favored female candidate Nikki Haley more than male respondents. Analyzing the impacts of the Iowa Caucuses on youth journalists demonstrates the effectiveness of this political event as a whole.