DES MOINES, Iowa — Hillary Clinton has a 6 percentage point lead over Bernie Sanders in Iowa, a new poll out just one week before the state’s caucuses shows.
The Fox News survey shows Clinton with 48 percent support to Sanders’ 42 percent and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s 3 percent.
The poll is the first since mid-December that meet’s CNN’s polling standards and shows Clinton with a sizable lead over Sanders. It could signal that momentum is swinging back in Clinton’s direction after Sanders surged into the lead in early January.
Meanwhile, according to a new nationwide CNN/ORC Poll, among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, Clinton tops Sanders 52 percent to 38 percent, with former O’Malley well behind at 2 percent.
Though Clinton’s lead remains in double-digits, these figures represent the tightest the contest has been since early September when Clinton topped Sanders by just 10 points. That was before Vice President Joe Biden decided to sit out the race and before the Democratic candidates had debated.
According to to the Fox Newss Poll, Clinton’s national lead among likely Democratic primary voters has narrowed too — she’s up 49 percent to Sanders’ 37 percent, a third Fox News poll showed.
According to that Fox News Poll, though, Sanders remains the front runner in New Hampshire, the first primary state, with a 56 percent to 34 percent advantage over Clinton.
The Democratic nominating contest has tightened in recent weeks, with Sanders’ singular message of addressing income inequality breaking through.
Clinton still holds significant advantages as the contest shifts from Iowa and New Hampshire to Nevada and South Carolina, two states with much larger minority populations — among whom Clinton leads.
The candidates are set to participate in a town hall at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday night. It is being hosted by Drake and the Iowa Democratic Party and broadcast on CNN at 9 p.m. ET.
