Poll: Clinton leads Sanders by 2-1 margin in Iowa

Hillary Clinton has twice as much support as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) among likely Iowa caucus-goers, a new poll finds.

Forty-eight percent of likely Democratic voters in the Hawkeye State back Clinton for the party’s 2016 nomination, while Sanders gets 23 percent support, according to the Loras College poll released Wednesday.

Those figures are in sharp contrast to another Iowa poll conducted by the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics over nearly identical dates that found Sanders within 7 points of Clinton.

{mosads}“Clinton continues to hold the advantages in public support, organization in the field and support within the Democratic Party establishment,” said Loras College poll director Christopher Budzisz. “But, this summer has been very good for Senator Sanders. He has drawn large and enthusiastic crowds in the state and across the country. We have seen substantial positive movement for Sanders in our polling.”

The poll further noted that support for Sanders “has risen dramatically.”

{mosads}Vice President Biden, who is mulling a challenge to Clinton, gets 16 percent support in the Loras College poll. The Bloomberg poll found similar results, with him at 14 percent.

Both polls found that if Biden decides not to run, Clinton would benefit from his supporters. They also generally found increased interest in Biden and Sanders and not Clinton.

Clinton, the long-time frontrunner in the Democratic race, has slipped in some polls amid the federal probe into her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of State.

Clinton’s negatives have also grown in polls, leading to speculation that Biden may launch a late bid for the nomination.

The Loras College survey of 502 likely Democratic caucus-goers was conducted Aug. 24-27 via landlines and cellphones with a 4.37 percent margin of error.