WASHINGTON—A new political survey in the U.S. shows Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders edging ahead of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Iowa, the rural state where voters in February will start to select the party’s 2016 presidential nominee.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday indicates Sanders is supported by 41 percent of the state’s Democratic voters, to 40 percent for Clinton – a marked change from two months ago, when Clinton held a 19-point lead in Iowa. Vice President Joe Biden, who is not a candidate but may yet enter the presidential race, won 12 percent support.

Sanders, a senator from the northeastern state of Vermont , has drawn enthusiastic crowds of liberal supporters at rallies across the country with his trademark complaints against the influence on U.S. affairs wielded by Wall Street and major corporations.

Surveys of potential voters also show Sanders leading Clinton in New Hampshire, another state that holds early primary elections to choose presidential candidates. Most opinion polls, however, show Clinton leading the Democratic race nationally.

Clinton’s support has fallen as she has stumbled in efforts to explain her use of a private, rather than government email server when she served as the country’s top diplomat for four years. She said this week she was sorry she had not used two separate systems to handle her official and private emails.

In the Republican presidential nominating contest, a new CNN/ORC poll showed billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump continuing to dominate the party’s 17-candidate field.

The survey showed the 69-year-old Trump with 32 percent of the Republican vote, his biggest share yet in a series of surveys over the last several months. He was followed by another political novice, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, with 19 percent, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the son and brother of two former U.S. presidents, with 9 percent.

Source : VOA

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