Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has opened up a 41-point lead over rival Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in Iowa, according to a Monmouth University survey released Tuesday that differs wildly from other polls showing a tighter contest.
The Monmouth University poll finds Clinton taking 65 percent support among likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, while Sanders takes 24 percent. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley clocks in at 5 percent support.
{mosads}Clinton leads among every demographic in the poll — men, women, very liberal Democrats, somewhat liberal Democrats, and self-described moderate voters. Her biggest lead is among women, with whom she commands a 73 percent to 16 percent advantage over Sanders.
“We now have a two-person race, but one of those competitors has just pulled very far ahead,” said Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray.
This is Monmouth’s first poll of Iowa Democrats, and the first survey of the race conducted since two major developments last week: Vice President Biden’s decision not to run for the White House and Clinton’s appearance in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
The poll finds Clinton with a much larger advantage than any other recent poll of Iowa Democrats.
According to the RealClearPolitics average, Clinton has only a 7-point lead over Sanders in Iowa. Three surveys taken since Biden announced he won’t run found Clinton and Sanders splitting Biden’s support, with Clinton holding leads of between 3 points and 11 points over Sanders. However, none of those polls were taken after Clinton’s Benghazi testimony.
Forty percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers in the Monmouth poll said they have settled on their final decision and are unlikely to change their minds. Thirty-seven percent said they’re close to settled, but are still open to changing their minds.
Clinton’s support is firmer than that of Sanders. About half of Clinton’s supporters say they’ve firmly made up their minds and are sticking with the former secretary of State, while only 27 percent of Sanders’s supporters said the same thing about him.
Both candidates have strong favorability ratings, with Clinton coming in at 88 percent positive and 8 percent negative, and 77 percent saying they view Sanders positively, against 11 percent who view him negatively.
The Monmouth University survey of 400 likely Democratic Iowa caucus-goers was conducted between Oct. 22 and Oct. 25 and has a 4.9 percentage point margin of error.