Bernie Sanders leads the latest Iowa Poll for the first time, while Pete Buttigieg dropped 9 percentage points into third place, the Des Moines Register reports.
The poll shows likely Iowa caucusgoers closely divided among the top four candidates, with Sanders leading the way at 20 percent. He is followed by Elizabeth Warren at 17 percent, Buttigieg at 16 percent, and Joe Biden at 15 percent. Amy Klobuchar is a distant fifth at 6 percent, followed by Andrew Yang at 5 percent. No other candidate received more than 3 percent.
“There's no denying that this is a good poll for Bernie Sanders. He leads, but it's not an uncontested lead,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll. “He's got a firmer grip on his supporters than the rest of his compatriots.”
The news is not all bad for Buttigieg, who has doubled his support in New Hampshire and leads the latest poll there with 20 percent, followed by Biden at 19 percent, Sanders at 18 percent, Warren at 15 percent, and Klobuchar at 6 percent, reports POLITICO.
“The race remains fairly wide open,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “To the extent that New Hampshire voters could take some cues from Iowa, it's also worth keeping an eye on lower-polling candidates like Klobuchar if any of the leading contenders stumble in the earlier Iowa contest.”
The Iowa Caucuses are Feb. 3, followed by the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 11. The top candidates will meet for a debate in Des Moines on Tuesday night.
