LAS VEGAS (AP) – First time caucus-goers_many energized by Donald Trump’s angry outsider campaign_flooded the polls driving turnout to record levels in Nevada’s first-in-the-West presidential preference event.
Trump received 34,531 votes in Tuesday night’s contest, more than the total number of people who caucused four years ago. The Nevada Republican Party said Wednesday that attendance at its latest caucus set a record with more than 75,000 voters who cast ballots, more than double the 33,000 people who caucused in 2012.
A fired-up voter base caused an unusual surge in GOP voter registrations leading up to the contest. About 5,200 new Republicans registered in the two weeks before the caucus participation deadline of Feb. 13 in Clark County alone.
Many of them said they were excited about Trump, the billionaire businessman who took 46 percent of the state’s vote total. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was a distant second with 24 percent of the vote.
First-timer Robbie Roth of Las Vegas showed up at the Durango High School caucus site and said she was excited enough about Trump that she sought out information about how to participate.