Hillary Clinton still leads the Democratic field in Iowa, but according to a new Public Policy Polling survey of “usual Democratic voters” in the Hawkeye state independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is making gains there.
A majority of Iowa Democrats, 52 percent, still support Clinton, while Sanders has 25 percent. That represents what PPP calls a “decent amount of tightening” in the Democratic race since April, with Clinton’s support dropping from 62 percent and Sanders’s up from 14 percent.
Clinton remains highly popular among Democrats in Iowa—75 percent have a favorable opinion of the former secretary of state, down just 3 points from April. But Sanders has increased his profile in Iowa, with 61 percent of Democrats there saying they have a favorable view of the self-described socialist, while just 40 percent said that in the spring.
Sanders has continued to attract impressive crowds, including 15,000 at Seattle rally and an estimated 28,000 at one in Portland, Oregon.
The RealClearPolitics average of polls still shows Clinton with a lead in Iowa, though Sanders appears to be steadily gaining. Clinton lost the 2008 Iowa caucuses to Barack Obama, who went on to win the Democratic nomination and the presidency.
