Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a nine-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) among Iowa Democrats, according to a poll released Thursday by the Emerson College Polling Society.
Clinton has the support of more than half of Iowa Democrats, with 52 percent of respondents intending to vote for her. By contrast, support for Sanders stood at 43 percent and support for former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley at 3 percent.
This is good news for Clinton, who led in nearly all Iowa polls conducted in the fall but saw that lead slip away in January after a surge in support for Sanders. The same surge corresponded to a collapse in Clinton’s numbers in New Hampshire, where she had consistently trailed Sanders, who hails from adjacent Vermont.
Clinton has remained the frontrunner in nearly all national polls conducted throughout this period, however.
The Emerson College Polling Society telephone poll surveyed 271 likely Democratic caucusgoers from Jan. 18-20, with a margin of error of 5.9 percentage points.
