Bernie Sanders leads Iowa Poll for the first time, just weeks before Iowa Caucus

NEW Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows 20% of likely Democratic caucusgoers name Sanders as their first choice for president.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is leading the Iowa Poll for the first time, and just 3 weeks remain before the Iowa caucuses.

Sanders took the lead in the Democratic field and narrowly overtook his closest competitors, Sanders, Biden, and Buttigieg, all in a tight scrum just behind Sanders.

Here are the top line numbers:

IOWA WH’2020 poll
(DMR/CNN/Selzer, with trend from November):
Sanders 20 (+5)
Warren 17 (+1)
Buttigieg 16 (-9)
Biden 15 (+0)
Klobuchar 6 (+0)
Yang 5 (+2)
Booker 3 (+0)
Gabbard 2 (-1)
Steyer 2 (-1)

Excerpt from the Des Moines Register:

After a surge of enthusiasm that pushed Pete Buttigieg to the top of the field in November, the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor has faded, falling 9 percentage points to land behind both Sanders and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Warren is at 17%; Buttigieg, 16%; and former Vice President Joe Biden, 15%.

“There’s no denying that this is a good poll for Bernie Sanders. He leads, but it’s not an uncontested lead,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll. “He’s got a firmer grip on his supporters than the rest of his compatriots.”

PHOTO by Gage Skidmore. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders walking in the Independence Day parade with supporters in Ames, Iowa. July, 2019. CC/by-sa/2.0/