Hillary Clinton has been a consistent favorite among Democratic voters, but a latest Iowa poll showed her numbers dropping, narrowing the gap between her and rival Bernie Sanders.
The Thursday released poll, conducted by Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics from Jan. 7 to 10, showed that Clinton still leads Sanders but with only 2 percentage points, closing the nine-point gap they had last month.
The former Secretary of State is backed by 42 percent of Democratic voters, while the Vermont senator has 40 percent of the voters' support.
"It shows Bernie is around to stay for sure. It's not a fly-by-night thing," Grant Woodard, a Des Moines lawyer said. "It really shows we're going to have a pretty crazy last few weeks here," he added.
Following the two leading candidates is Maryland Governor Martin O' Malley, far behind with only four percent.
Sanders' presence is strongest among the younger voters, while Clinton leads among women and the older group, according to the poll.
With Sanders leading among young voters, his challenge will be to persuade them and the independent group who shares his views to vote. As for the politically established Clinton, her challenge is to maintain her presence among voters at this time when insurgency is rampant.
It was also highlighted that the close race was not caused by the increase in Sanders' numbers. He only had a one percent increase since last month, but Clinton's support did drop significantly.
Another contributor to the close race is the percentage of people who say they are "uncommitted" or undecided, which was at 14 percent, as opposed to the eight percent from last month.
"Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say this is an election about issues, rather than leadership. That really explains the division in the party," pollster J. Ann Selzer, explained, as reported in Bloomberg.
