[F]resh poll data shows presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., leading Hillary Clinton by 10 points in Iowa, the latest in a series of polls that suggest Sanders could win the first two contests early next year.
The YouGov/CBS poll, released Sunday, gives Sanders 43 percent to Clinton’s 33 percent in Iowa. While Sanders’ insurgent campaign has rocketed him up in New Hampshire, Clinton had long kept her edge in Iowa’s caucus. But Sunday’s poll shows that Sanders now poses a serious threat in the state.
“We are delighted with the numbers,” said Lilia Chacon, Sanders’ Iowa press secretary. “We just think that when people hear what he has to say, it really resonates with them.”
Sanders posted even stronger support in New Hampshire, notching 52 percent of support of Democratic primary voters in the state. Clinton received 30 percent, according to the poll.
The poll was based on online interviews with nearly 5,000 people in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina between Sept. 3 and 10. Participants were selected in order to create diversity in age, gender and race, according to the YouGov methodology.
The strong numbers come amid organizing pushes in both states. Sanders has eight field offices in the Granite State and nearly 40 staffers. In Iowa, the campaign has opened 15 field offices, and more than 50 staffers are organizing in the state, Chacon said.
“The hard part is getting Sanders to that audience, but once we do they like what they hear,” Chacon said.
Chacon said a few more staffers may come on in Iowa before the caucuses in February, but said the team is now focused on being efficient and effective with the resources at hand.
In a separate Quinnipiac University poll released last week, Sanders topped Clinton by just one point in Iowa, earning 41 percent to her 40 percent. The poll culled data from 832 likely Democratic voters in Iowa from late August to Sept. 8.
“The more people in Iowa get to know about Bernie the more they like him and what he stands for,” said Stephanie Schwinn, Bremer County Democratic chair, in a Sanders news release following the poll. “His ideas for rebuilding the American middle class and taking on the billionaire class are resonating here in Iowa and across the country.”
In a July survey by Quinnipiac, Clinton topped Sanders in Iowa, 52 percent to 33 percent.
Sanders’ populist message appears to be resonating with voters in both states, which has helped him surpass Clinton in the polls. Clinton has also struggled to address questions over her private email server as secretary of state, and has recently adopted a more apologetic tone about her use of the account following flailing poll numbers and focus group feedback from New Hampshire, according to The New York Times.
Clinton still has an edge over Sanders in South Carolina, the first early primary state with a heterogeneous population. Clinton notched 46 percent in the state, with Sanders recording 23 percent of support in the state.
