Poll: Youth vote boosted Obama in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Polling of voters in Iowa's Democratic presidential caucus, won by Barack Obama, showed the Illinois senator scored big with younger voters.

Obama won 57 percent of the vote among Democrats under age 30 in Thursday's first-in-the nation caucuses, CNN reported.

That helped him secure 38 percent of the vote overall, to 30 percent for former South Carolina Sen. John Edwards and 29 percent for second-term New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Two candidates -- Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd -- scarcely registered with caucus goers and announced they would drop out of the presidential nomination race.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson finished fourth with 2 percent and said he would "take the fight to New Hampshire," which holds the first-in-the-nation primary election next Tuesday.

The Iowa Democratic Party said the turnout for the caucuses was a record, with at least 227,000 voters participating, CNN reported. That compares with a turnout of 124,000 in the 2004 caucuses.