elections

As the presidential race shifted to Nevada with Democratic caucuses last week and Republican caucuses Tuesday night, more young voters had a chance to chime in to the political process. Nevada is a state with a huge young, diverse population.

But there is the perennial question: Do young people matter in politics?

In every recent election, you've probably heard some iteration of the same generational critique: "Young people don't vote."

Vermont U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke to an enthusiastic crowd at UMass Amherst last night, about a week before the Massachusetts primary.

On the campaign trail, the chief anchor of the Spanish-language network Univision, Jorge Ramos, chases three quarries: voters, viewers and relevance.

A self-described dinosaur who insists on mastering new tricks, Ramos and his team now reach an audience of millions who are watching not on television, but via video streams on Facebook, captured by an iPhone clutched in a selfie stick.

President Obama backed a bill in Illinois last week that would automatically register people to vote when they apply for a driver's license or state ID.

"That will protect the fundamental right of everybody," he said. "Democrats, Republicans, independents, seniors, folks with disabilities, the men and women of our military — it would make sure that it was easier for them to vote and have their vote counted."

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won clear, early and decisive victories in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night.

Trump beat the GOP field by double digits. He got 35 percent of the vote, well ahead of surprise second-place finisher John Kasich, who pulled in 16 percent. Kasich was followed by Ted Cruz at 12 percent, Jeb Bush at 11 percent and Marco Rubio, who, after a poor debate performance Saturday, faded to fifth just shy of 11 percent.

The major presidential candidates are campaigning across New Hampshire on Wednesday, continuing their sprint toward primary day next Tuesday.

Following her razor-thin victory in the Iowa caucuses, Democrat Hillary Clinton spent Tuesday rallying loyal Democrats. Her challenger, Bernie Sanders, was also back on the campaign trail — sounding a lot like an Iowa winner, as well.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is suspending his campaign for president after a disappointing finish in Iowa, turning his focus now to his Senate re-election bid.

"Across the country thousands upon thousands of young people flocked to our message of limited government, privacy, criminal justice reform and a reasonable foreign policy. Brushfires of Liberty were ignited, and those will carry on, as will I," the Republican said in a statement.

In a photo finish early Tuesday, the Iowa Democratic Party declared Hillary Clinton the winner in Monday's Iowa Caucus. She edged out Sen. Bernie Sanders by a mere fraction of a percent, 49.9 percent to 49.6 percent, in what NPR calls "the thinnest of margins in the closest Democratic contest ever." And Sanders’ supporters say a tie is as good as a win for the Vermont senator. 

As any bridge player can tell you, the game is different when there is no trump.

On Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa, the seventh debate among major candidates for president in the Republican Party set a new standard in both substance and tone. And it did so because the front-runner in the 2016 nomination fight, Donald J. Trump, did not attend.

Since launching his candidacy for president last May, Sen. Bernie Sanders has watched his poll numbers explode. But Hillary Clinton continues to hold a major advantage with the black and Latino voters that will be key to winning the Democratic nomination. Sanders says he’s convinced he can close that gap.

This week, NPR asked voters around the country how they are feeling about this election, and why so many tell us they are anxious or angry.

President Obama and Vice President Biden "have tried to be fair and even-handed" in the primary process, Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday following a meeting with the president at the White House.

Calling the meeting "constructive and productive," Sanders cautiously praised the Obama administration's economic work, saying there is still work to be done. The two also talked talked about foreign and domestic policy and "a little bit of politics," according to Sanders, who spoke to reporters after the meeting.

Earlier this month, no less an authority than TeenVogue declared that Bernie Sanders is “killin' it” with millennials.

This week, NPR and some member stations will be taking the temperature of the electorate in communities around the country. You can follow those stations, via Twitter, here.

The mood of the voters is one of the most important political factors in an election year. This year voters are anxious, frightened and angry.

Candidates in both parties are trying to show they get it.

There was a new urgency as Republican presidential hopefuls took the stage Thursday evening, with simmering feuds spilling into the open less than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

The onetime detente between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz was gone. The billionaire real estate mogul early on had to defend his doubts as to whether the Canadian-born Texas senator is even eligible for the White House.

Many Republicans may have sided with Donald Trump's controversial proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., but his rival Jeb Bush predicts that the GOP faithful will eventually oppose the plan and see it his way.

"Trump clearly banning all Muslims would actually be so counterproductive in our efforts to destroy ISIS that it's foolhardy," the former Florida governor told NPR's Steve Inskeep in an interview Wednesday in Boston. "I mean, it's beyond ridiculous; it's quite dangerous."

Dealing a big blow to President Nicolas Maduro's Socialist leadership, Venezuelan voters handed a majority of congressional seats to a coalition of opposition parties.

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports the opposition gains control of congress for the first time since Hugo Chávez ushered in victory for the leftist movement in 1999. She filed this report for our Newcast unit:

Edit note: Since this story was first published, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was found guilty of taking nearly $4 million in bribes and kickbacks. We have updated the story to reflect this change.

Las Vegas has The Mob Museum. Washington, D.C., has the International Spy Museum. And if a concerned citizen has his way, there will be a Museum of Political Corruption in Albany, N.Y.

In 2008, one voting bloc in particular made a huge difference in the presidential election: young people. Young voters were a crucial part of the coalition that propelled President Obama to victory then.

But what about now? What issues matter to young voters this time around — and which candidates are doing the best job so far of speaking to those concerns?