Pollster on Hillary's Iowa stumbles: 'This feels like 2008 all over again'
The latest Iowa survey has left at least one pollster wondering if history might repeat itself. At this point eight years ago, Hillary Clinton led Barack Obama in the Iowa polls by the same margin of seven points that she now leads Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). This uncanny parallel led Iowa Poll pollster J. Ann Selzer to posit, "This feels like 2008 all over again."
By late November 2007, Obama had surged ahead and ended up winning Iowa's Democratic caucuses in early 2008. And we all know what happened after that.
But could Bernie really pull off a similar upset, based on his performance in Iowa? NPR notes that there are definitely some similarities between the two candidates. Just like Obama, Sanders is winning young voters. The Des Moines Register notes that Sanders is also claiming 43 percent of first-time caucus-goers votes while Clinton only captures 31 percent.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Still, as NPR contends, "Sanders is no Obama." NPR points out that "he doesn't have the kind of field operation, for example, at this point needed to go the distance." Furthermore, Obama enjoyed serious institutional support from the Democratic Party, which Sanders does not.
But even if Sanders can't go the distance, he can still definitely make Clinton sweat a little as she feels 'the Bern.'
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The rise in unregulated pregnancy scansUnder The Radar Industry body says some private scan clinics offer dangerously misleading advice
-
Democrats seek 2026 inspiration from special election routsIN THE SPOTLIGHT High-profile wins are helping a party demoralized by Trump’s reelection regain momentum
-
Film reviews: ‘Bugonia,’ ‘The Mastermind,’ and ‘Nouvelle Vague’feature A kidnapped CEO might only appear to be human, an amateurish art heist goes sideways, and Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ gets a lively homage
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters