Sanders gaining ground on Clinton among Iowa Democrats, new poll shows

DES MOINES - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is beginning to close the gap among Iowa Democrats in his pursuit of front-running Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, a new public opinion poll released Thursday indicates.

The new survey of likely Democratic caucusgoers by the independent Quinnipiac University shows Clinton - a former U.S. Secretary of State, New York senator and first lady - garnering 52 percent support in Iowa compared to Sanders' 33 percent among Iowans who say they expect to participate in next February's first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses.

The new polling data indicates Sanders has gained ground from a May 7 survey in which 60 percent of Iowa participants favored Clinton while 15 percent expressed support for the independent Vermont senator who is competing in the Democratic presidential sweepstakes.

'Secretary Hillary Clinton should not be biting her fingernails over her situation in the Iowa caucuses, but her lead is slipping and Sen. Bernie Sanders is making progress against her,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

'Her 52 percent score among likely caucusgoers is still OK, but this is the first time she has been below 60 percent in Quinnipiac University's Iowa survey,” Brown added in a statement. 'But Sen. Sanders has more than doubled his showing, and at 33 percent he certainly can't be ignored, especially with seven months until the actual voting.

'Iowa Democratic caucusgoers are generally considered more liberal than primary voters in most other states, a demographic that helps his insurgency against Secretary Clinton who is the choice of virtually the entire Democratic establishment,” Brown noted. 'The good news for Clinton in this survey is that despite problematic scores among the overall electorate regarding her honesty and ability to understand the needs of average folks, none of those negative ratings are showing up among her Democratic base, to which she remains an iconic figure.”

Among the rest of the prospective Democratic field, Vice President Joseph Biden of Delaware registered backing from 7 percent of the poll participants, followed by former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley with 3 percent and 1 percent for former U.S. Sen. James Webb of Virginia with 5 percent of Iowa Democrats still undecided.

Among Democrats, 7 percent say they would not support Biden, Webb or former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, and 6 percent say they would not support Clinton.

The Quinnipiac University poll, conducted June 20-29 in which live interviewers surveyed 761 likely Iowa Democratic caucus participants via landline and cellphone calls, has a margin of error of 3.6 percent.