system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is Iowa so important in presidential elections?

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gpt
As stated elsewhere, it is first, so it is important. People vote for winners, so if you are winning early, people are more likely to get behind you. And there are a lot of benefits to doing it this way. With so much money involved nowadays, arguably a candidate with less money has a chance if he/she can win over enough people in a smaller state like Iowa. If it was in California, New York, etc, you would have to have a ton of money to make a dent in reaching that size of a population.