Clinton plummets 9 points in Iowa, narrowing her lead on Sanders

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at the first debate in Las Vegas

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

published 14 January 2016

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.

The poll shows that the Iowa caucuses hold promise for both candidates — and, as Grant Woodard, a Des Moines lawyer who has worked for several state and national campaigns, puts it, that "Bernie is around to stay for sure." "“If I was in either of those campaigns," Woodard said, "I would look at this poll and say, 'This race is winnable.'"