Progressive Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernard Sanders is gaining more attention from potential voters due to his straight-shooting style and social agenda, writes Jon Queally from Common Dreams.
MATCHING TRENDS previously seen in New Hampshire, a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll released Saturday shows that Senator Bernie Sanders is trending upwards in the key early primary state as he closes the gap with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
As the Register reports:
Liberal revolutionary Bernie Sanders, riding an updraft of insurgent passion in Iowa, has closed to within 7 points of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race.
She's the first choice of 37 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers; he's the pick for 30 percent, according to a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll.
But Clinton has lost a third of her supporters since May, a trajectory that if sustained puts her at risk of losing again in Iowa, the initial crucible in the presidential nominating contest.
The report noted that this is the first time Clinton – the former secretary of state and longtime presumptive front-runner – has dropped below the 50 percent mark in four polls conducted by the Register and Bloomberg Politics this year.
#HillaryClinton quickly evaporating in #Iowa, #BernieSanders only 7 points behind in new poll http://t.co/nuGXuDIawq pic.twitter.com/yzS8mrUHvA
— Carol Costello (@CarolCNN) August 31, 2015
CNN adds:
Sanders' support owes more to voters' enthusiasm for his candidacy than opposition to Clinton, the poll found. A whopping 96% of his backers say they support him and his ideas, with just 2% saying their vote is motivated by a desire to stop a Clinton candidacy. As for the controversy surrounding Clinton's use of email while leading the State Department, 61% of likely Democratic caucusgoers say the issue is not important to them.
Sanders has a deeper reservoir of support, the poll found. Thirty-nine percent of likely caucusgoers say their feelings about Sanders are very favorable, with just 8% having a negative view of him. That's a sharp contrast to Clinton: 27% view her very favorably, but 19% view her negatively.
Saturday's poll marks a remarkable eight-month climb for the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist from Vermont, who is garnering support in part from his anti-establishment rhetoric. Back in January, half of likely Democratic caucusgoers were unfamiliar with Sanders, and he was pulling in just 5% of support.
"What this new poll shows is that the more Iowans get to know Bernie, the better they like him and what he stands for. We've seen the same thing in New Hampshire and across the country," Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement.
Two recent polls out of New Hampshire showed that Sanders is now the presumed frontrunner in that state.
Bernie’s still ahead of Hillary in the latest New Hampshire poll http://t.co/nqArhGotsA pic.twitter.com/J5O9aaVbHy
— Mic (@micnews) August 26, 2015
Responding to the latest survey in Iowa, Steve McMahon, a Virginia-based Democratic strategist who has worked on presidential campaigns dating to 1980, said the latest numbers
"... suggest that she can be beaten."
On Friday, both Sanders and Clinton spoke at the Summer gathering of the Democratic National Committee, a summit for party insiders and delegates where Sanders warned attendees that unless Democrats can arouse genuine enthusiasm among voters based on serious policy solutions they will have no chance of winning elections in 2016.
Sanders said:
"Let me be very clear. Democrats will not retain the White House, will not regain the Senate, will not gain the House and will not be successful in dozens of governor’s races unless we run a campaign which generates excitement and momentum and which produces a huge voter turnout."
.@BernieSanders says his Iowa poll gains translate to enthusiasm across the country http://t.co/yQqYYtTbAk pic.twitter.com/5828eSV0gu
— Bloomberg Business (@business) September 1, 2015
He added:
"With all due respect, and I do not mean to insult anyone here, that will not happen with politics as usual. The same old, same old will not be successful."
Offering a solution to the Democrats most faithful supporters, Sanders said that his campaign has a clear strategy of fomenting deep political change:
"We will win in 2016, not just the White House, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, but Statehouses all across the country. because we are going to create an unprecedented grassroots movement which taps into the American people’s desire for real change in this country."
Watch Senator Sanders' full remarks at the DNC meeting below:
This story was originally published in Common Dreams on 30/8/15 under the title 'Clinton 'Can Be Beaten' as Sanders Shows New Surge in Iowa' and has been republished under a Creative Commons licence.
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As Crowds for Bernie Sanders Grow, the Biggest Impact Comes in #Iowa - The New York Times http://t.co/oi07Au2Sv0
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