Bernie Sanders now leading in Iowa for the first time

Bernie Sanders now leading in Iowa for the first time

Bernie Sanders leading with 20%

It’s good news for Bernie supporters. Bernie Sanders took lead for the first time in Iowa State 24 days before the primary. Joe Biden slipped to fourth position. Iowa will be first state in US to hold Democratic primary to choose the democratic presidential candidate. Iowa is closely contested state where all the top runners have support. 

The Vermont senator Sanders has 20% support in the Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll of likely Democratic caucus goers- a five-point jump in support since the last time the institution polled Iowa voters in November. Fellow candidate Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is in second place with 17%.

Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, came in third with 16%, a 9-point drop from his 22% first-place finish in November. Biden held 15% support in the poll, the same percentage as in November.

The poll results came from 701 registered Iowa voters reached by phone from Jan. 2 to 8 who said they would definitely or probably attend the Democratic caucuses on Feb. 3.

It is vital for Bernie Sanders to win Iowa to boost its chances to become Democratic presidential candidate. “There’s no denying that this is a good poll for Bernie Sanders. He leads, but it’s not an uncontested lead,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of the company that conducted the poll. “He’s got a firmer grip on his supporters than the rest of his compatriots.”

Only a minority of the likely caucus goers, 40%, said that they are settled on their preferred candidate, while 45% said they could be persuaded to support someone else, and 13% have not yet picked a favorite candidate.

Before Friday's poll, Sanders led Iowa in the Real Clear Politics average of primary polls at 22%, followed by Buttigieg at 21.7%, Biden at 20.3%, and Warren at 15.3%.

                                                        Monitoring desk