Hillary Clinton's lead over Bernie Sanders has narrowed to a 2-point margin just weeks ahead of the state's Feb. 1 caucuses. A new The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll out Thursday shows Clinton has dropped 9 percentage points in the last month to 42 percent, while Sanders has gained 1 point, rising to 40 percent. Clinton's lead now rests within the poll's margin of error.
The tight race in Iowa, however, is not due to a sudden surge in support for Sanders nor, pollsters say, because Clinton's campaign is "somehow doomed." Rather, the shift can be attributed to a jump in the number of likely voters who haven't made up their minds. While just 8 percent said they hadn't last month, that number now sits at 14 percent. "As we get closer, sometimes things get more volatile, rather than less," Ann Selzer, who conducts the Iowa Poll, told The Des Moines Register.
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