U.S. 2016 Presidential Elections: Clinton And Trump Lead As Iowa Caucuses Draws Near
On February 1, the first ever actual voting during the U.S. Presidential elections will be happening in the state of Iowa. As with previous elections, the presidential nominees for each party, the Republicans and the Democrats, are working hard to draw supporters in the state through their campaign rallies. According to a report in The Guardian, a recent poll of the Des Moines Register shows that Donald Trump is leading by five points over his closest contender, Texan senator Ted Cruz, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a small three-point lead over Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
The Guardian report also cited that the nominees are pulling out all the stops in their Iowa campaign, hoping that a strong showing of support on the ground would translate to more votes during the caucus. Among the last to hold such a rally is Bernie Sanders, who was reported to have hosted a rally with a huge number last Saturday, which ended with the crowd singing "This Land is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie. On the Republican side, despite his weak performance against Trump, Ted Cruz still continued on his campaign trail, with the help of Glenn Beck, a well-known speaker.
Cruz's campaign however was not without its controversy when local officials in Iowa complained that the senator's campaign distributed mailers saying the residents would be committing a "potential voting violation" if they do not go out and vote on Monday. On his heels is Florida senator Marco Rubio, who was also able to draw in big crowds in the hopes that this will improve his third-place ranking in the recent polls.
In the case of the Democratic nominees, the poll showed that Clinton was still leading over Sanders by a mere three points only at 45-42. This is a drop from her six-point lead in the same poll in December 2015. According to another Guardian report, the poll is relatively reliable in terms of predicting who will dominate the Iowa caucuses. In 2008, the poll was able to see Obama's victory in the primary over Clinton.
