KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
NPR's Sam Sanders spoke with Democratic voters in Des Moines earlier today, and he found that as things get down to the wire, many of them are relying on their emotions to guide their decisions.
SAM SANDERS, BYLINE: I caught Marissa Schuster early this morning on her way to class at Drake University.
And you're going to caucus tonight.
MARISSA SCHUSTER: Yeah, I'm going to caucus.
SANDERS: For...
SCHUSTER: Bernie (laughter).
SANDERS: Why?
SCHUSTER: The biggest thing with Bernie, I believe, is the fact that all the money is going to the 1 percent.
SANDERS: Schuster says Sanders is for people like her, not the 1 percent. She's worried about student debt and finding a job, and she thinks Bernie has her back. Schuster does admit that she likes the policy proposals Hillary Clinton has, but she just feels better about Sanders.
SCHUSTER: I trust Bernie Sanders, and I've never been able to trust Hillary.
SANDERS: Never?
SCHUSTER: I mean, no. I think that some of her views are great, but there's just a part of her that - I'm, like - I feel like she's hiding something from the people that she doesn't want us to know.
SANDERS: I pushed her on this. Schuster told me it's more than just the State Department emails or any one thing. Hillary just doesn't do it for her.
SCHUSTER: Hillary is a great person and a great woman, and I want a woman as president. I really, really do. But you have to look at who's better for the job, and I think Bernie is.
SANDERS: Across town, I caught the exact opposite sentiment.
JUSTIN WISE: I just met her. I literally just met her.
SANDERS: You just met her.
WISE: Yeah.
SANDERS: Where did you meet her?
WISE: She was - I was sitting there.
SANDERS: That's Justin Wise. He was in a coffee shop this morning when Hillary Clinton walked in.
WISE: So I'm sitting down at the table I always sit at, and - so I come here all the time. I live here. And she walks in, and you - of course, you can tell right away something's going on.
SANDERS: Foreign policy was already Wise's top issue in this election, and he says on that kind of stuff, Hillary knows what she's talking about. But seeing Clinton at the coffee shop this morning - that made up his mind.
WISE: There were women weeping after meeting with her. That shows me something.
SANDERS: Wise said a Hillary Clinton presidency could be as historic and symbolic as Barack Obama's.
WISE: And I feel like Hillary is doing the same thing for a different group, saying, listen; you didn't think you could be president before, but guess what? You can.
SANDERS: And that may be what the vote comes down to tonight. How do Sanders and Clinton make voters feel? Tonight, we'll start to find out. Sam Sanders, NPR News, Des Moines. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
