Clinton retakes Iowa lead from Sanders in Quinnipiac poll

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has recaptured the top spot in Iowa, according to a new Quinnipiac University Poll.

Her 11-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) comes just one month after the same poll showed her 1 percentage point behind Sanders.

The poll of likely Democratic participants in the Iowa caucus showed Clinton with 51 percent support to Sanders’s 40 percent. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley received 4 percent support. Quinnipiac’s Sept. 10 poll had Sanders leading Clinton 41 to 40 percent.

{mosads}“A strong debate performance doesn’t always translate into better poll numbers, but it sure did for Hillary Clinton,” Quinnipiac Assistant Director Peter A. Brown said in a statement. “Clinton had been losing momentum among the key Iowa Caucus participants and last month was tied with Sen. Bernie Sanders, who seemed to have the momentum in Iowa and nationally. But the debate seemed to reverse that trend and once again she is the leader of the pack in Iowa,” he said.

Indeed, the poll found that a majority of those who watched the debate said she had won it.

Both Clinton and Sanders had high favorability ratings — 83 percent for Sanders, 82 percent for Clinton. Ninety-two percent of those polled said Clinton “has the right kind of experience to be president,” while 60 percent of the participants had that perception of Sanders. However, 87 percent said Sanders was “honest and trustworthy” while 70 percent of Democrats said that of Clinton.

Sanders garnered two-thirds of the support of 18- to 34-year-olds, while the majority of Clinton’s support came from those over 50.

The poll of 592 likely Democratic Caucus participants was conducted by live interview to landlines and cellphones from Oct. 14 to Oct. 20 and has a 4 percent margin of error.