Do the Iowa caucuses predict the president? What history says

Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses are fast approaching, with Republican candidates duking it out in the final days before the first major test of their electability.

However, history shows that winning in Iowa does not guarantee success in the rest of the primary race — or in November.

Since 1972, Iowa's caucuses — this year set for Monday — have been a testing ground for presidential candidates and an opportunity for White House hopefuls to inject a surge of momentum for their campaigns in other states.

Still, in the five decades since the start of the modern primary system, there were 16 times that presidential candidates that won the Iowa's caucuses have not gone on to become the commander in chief (not including uncontested races).

There were eight times that the Iowa caucuses' winners were not named their party's nominee (again, not including uncontested races).

Only three presidents since 1972 won their Iowa caucuses when the races were contested rather than unopposed: Democrats Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Barack Obama in 2008 as well as Republican George W. Bush in 2000.

There are a few Iowa losers who went on to win: Ronald Reagan in 1980, George H.W. Bush in 1988 and Donald Trump in 2016.

Some of the more notable instances in the past decade include Republican candidate Mike Huckabee's 2008 Iowa caucuses win.

That year, Huckabee won the caucuses with 34% — far ahead of the eventual GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain, who came in fourth with 13%.

In the 2012 Iowa caucuses, Republican Rick Santorum barely beat out eventual nominee Mitt Romney — with Santorum winning by just 34 votes.

Four years later, Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucuses, besting Trump by about 3%. But Trump, of course, went on to become the party's nominee and then be