Iowa Democrats have begun meeting at caucus sites around the state, the beginning of what could be a bruising months-long fight to choose a November election challenger to Republican President Donald Trump.
Voters poured into more than 1600 schools, community centres and other public locations to render judgment on a field of 11 Democratic contenders led by front-runners Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden, who have battled for the top in recent Iowa opinion polls.
Mostly white, rural Iowa is the first test in the state-by-state battle to pick a Democratic nominee to face Trump in the November 3 election.
After more than a year of campaigning and more than $US800 million ($A1.2 billion) in spending, the results in Iowa could begin to provide answers for a party desperately trying to figure out how to beat the businessman-turned-president.
The race has been overshadowed in recent weeks, with Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar relegated to part-time campaigning in Iowa as they were forced to remain in Washington for the Senate impeachment trial of Trump. They heard closing arguments on Monday, just hours before the caucuses.
At the caucus sites, voters gather in groups by candidate preference in a public display of support. If a candidate does not reach a threshold of support of 15 per cent of voters in a caucus needed to be considered viable, that candidates’ supporters are released to back another contender, leading to another round of persuasion.
Even if one candidate wins by a commanding margin in Iowa, Democrats may still lack clear answers as the race moves on to the other three early-voting states of New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina later in February.
Whoever remains in the race by Super Tuesday, when 15 states and territories vote on March 3, will also confront billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is skipping the early states in favour of focusing on states rich in delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July.
Mr Sanders, who finished in a virtual dead heat with Hillary Clinton in Iowa during his first presidential run in 2016, surged recently in many Iowa opinion polls to move just ahead of Mr Biden.
Ms Warren and Pete Buttigieg remain within striking distance, and many polls show a big bloc of undecided Iowa voters, creating the potential for upsets and late surges.
-AAP
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