Sen. Bernie Sanders is in a three-way tie for first place in Iowa and has taken a narrow lead in New Hampshire, according to new polls from CBS News and YouGov, as residents in those two states prepare to cast their votes next month in the race to determine which Democrat will take on President Donald Trump in November.
The Vermont independent has jockeyed for first place in polling in both states since the race began with former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and South Bend. Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
In Iowa, the first state to vote in the race with caucuses on Feb. 3, Sanders has yet to finish alone at the top in any polls, but he has tied for the lead in three surveys and is at the top of the RealClearPolitics average for the state.
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A CBS News poll released Sunday found Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg tied for first among registered Iowa Democrats at 23%. They were followed by Warren at 16%, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota at 7% and the rest of the field at 2% or less.
The results from Sunday’s poll were very similar to CBS News’ previous poll in the state, which was released in November. That poll found Sanders tied with Biden at 22%, while Buttigieg was just one percentage point behind them.
Sanders’ performance has been more steady in New Hampshire, which votes a week after Iowa, where he also leads the field in RCP polling average. The new CBS News poll is at least the ninth to find him leading in the Granite State.
In that poll, 27% of registered New Hampshire Democrats said they would vote for Sanders, 25% said they plan to vote for Biden, 18% supported Warren and 13% planned to vote for Buttigieg. Seven percent said they would vote for Klobuchar, 3% supported Sen. Cort Booker of New Jersey and 3% backed billionaire Tom Steyer.
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who is not campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire, was not included in the surveys. But 31% of Iowa Democrats said they would consider him, as did 27% of New Hampshire Democrats.
Though he led the state, 57% of New Hampshire Democrats said Sanders was “too progressive” for the general election, while 40% said he was “about right.” In Biden’s case, 57% said he was “about right” while 39% said he was “not progressive enough.” Similarly, 61% said Buttigieg was “about right” and 33% said he was “not progressive enough.” Forty-four percent of New Hampshire Democrats thought Warren was too progressive, 11% said she wasn’t liberal enough and 45% thought she was just right.
Those numbers were similar for all the candidates in Iowa, though 7% fewer Iowa Democrats thought Sanders was too progressive and 8% fewer though Biden was not progressive enough.
Both polls were conducted from Dec. 27, 2019, to Jan. 3, 2020. The Iowa poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points and the New Hampshire poll’s was 5.3 percentage points.
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