As of 2018 the population of Iowa was 3.156 million. The population of California as of 2018 was 39.56 million. Why is Iowa so important?

I've wondered the same thing for years.  Looks like it boils down to tradition.  I found the following explanation...



Iowa is hardly representative of America in the 21st century. It is a rural state that is sparsely populated by people who are overwhelmingly white, of German and Scandinavian stock, and conservatively Christian. It is one of only ten states to still hold somewhat archaic caucuses, a system of local precinct meetings where voters decide openly, by show of hand or by breaking into groups, which candidates they support and pick delegates who will vote at the state convention of each party. The other 40 states hold primary elections in which voters cast secret ballots for their candidates and the results are used to work out the configuration of delegates at the nominating conventions. Turnout at the caucuses in Iowa tends to be low and only about 1% of the nation’s delegates (who make the final pick of a party’s candidate in July) are chosen at the Iowa state convention.

Even so, the Iowa caucuses is where the voting contest for the presidency kicks off on February 1st and they serve as an early indication of who might win the nomination at the national conventions and who has little chance of success. They also tend to narrow the field. Many expect that one or several of the Republican candidates who scored poorly in the latest polls will drop out if they do badly in Iowa. 

It all started in 1972 when the Democratic Party changed its schedule to make Iowa the first state to hold its caucus. George McGovern’s better-than-expected performance in Iowa that year kick-started his campaign and the press and pundits have kept a close eye on the Hawkeye state ever since. (McGovern lost by a wide margin against Richard Nixon.) In 1976 the Republican Party followed suit and since then Iowa’s importance in the election process has only grown as the Midwestern state and New Hampshire, another relatively small state on the east coast where the first primary election will take place on February 9th, set the tone for the election. A win in either state sometimes gives a candidate an air of inevitability, as was the case with Barack Obama, who won Iowa in 2008, overtaking Hillary Clinton.

Some say that giving two otherwise unimportant states so much influence over the process to fill the most powerful job in the world is undemocratic. They propose, for instance, substituting the current system with a primary vote in which registered party members in all states vote for their preferred candidate in a single day. Candidates would then receive delegate support in each state proportionally to the result of the primary vote. But Iowans are fiercely attached to their first-in-the-nation status. They welcome the media circus and the constant visits by campaigning candidates in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. Local hotels and restaurants benefit hugely from election season. The Iowa state fair with its deep fried cherry pies and bacon-wrapped riblets is a test of the most seasoned politicians’ culinary stamina. The role in national politics of this agricultural state is unlikely to change in the near future.