Bernie Sanders overtakes Hillary Clinton in latest Iowa poll

(Image credit: Charlie Leight/Getty Images)

last updated 10 September 2015

Just four months ahead of Iowa's caucuses, Hillary Clinton no longer has the lead. A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday reveals that the former Democratic frontrunner is now neck-and-neck with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the state where the first votes for president will be cast. The Vermont senator snagged the favor of 41 percent of Iowa's Democratic voters, compared to Clinton's 40 percent. Although Sanders technically has one percentage point on Clinton, Bloomberg calls the results a "statistical tie," due to the poll's margin of error.

Only a couple months ago, back in early July, Clinton had a big lead on Sanders, beating him in Iowa by a whopping 19 percentage points, 52 percent to 33 percent. Sanders is also polling ahead of Clinton by nine points in New Hampshire, the second state to cast presidential ballots. Pollster Peter Brown said of the unexpected change in the tides: "Sen. Bernie Sanders has become the Eugene McCarthy of 2016. He is the candidate of the Democratic left, against his own party's bosses and their prized presidential candidate, Secretary Hillary Clinton."