New Iowa Caucus Poll shows Clinton with slim lead over Sanders

By James Q. Lynch, The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS — With less than a week until the Iowa precinct caucuses, Hillary Clinton has a slight lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in an Iowa Caucus Poll released Tuesday.

Clinton leads Sanders 47.4 percent to 45 percent in the poll conducted by Iowa State University and WHO-HD television in Des Moines.

Gazette chart

That's a significant jump from the Iowa Caucus Poll done in November that showed Clinton leading 49.5 percent to 27.8 percent with former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley polling 2.7 percent. O'Malley's support has fallen to less than 1 percent in the new poll.

Democratic respondents viewed Clinton as a stronger leader when compared to Sanders by and 82.3 to 73.7 percent margin. However, Sanders was considered stronger on honesty — 87.0 percent to 66.2 percent — and compassion — 85.9 percent to 77.9 percent.

The new ISU/WHO-HD poll was compiled through phone interviews with 722 registered voters, including 356 Democrats, Jan. 5-22. The margin of error is approximately 3.5 percent for the full set of respondents.