Clinton holds steady lead over Sanders in Iowa

Hillary Clinton is holding steady in Iowa, maintaining a double-digit lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a new poll finds.

According to a Quinnipiac University survey released on Tuesday, Clinton takes 51 percent support over Sanders’s 40 percent. That’s mostly unchanged from the same poll from late November, when Clinton led 51 percent to 42 percent over Sanders.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley receives 6 percent support in the survey, while 3 percent said they’re undecided.

{mosads}Clinton is boosted in the poll by a huge advantage among women, taking 59 percent support, compared to 32 percent for Sanders. Sanders leads 52 to 39 over Clinton among men.

“Secretary Hillary Clinton’s strength is largely based on her appeal to Democratic women among whom she leads by 2-1, a daunting base for those trying to upset her candidacy,” said Quinnipiac pollster Peter A. Brown.

Jobs and the economy is the top issue for a plurality of Democratic voters, with 35 percent calling it the most important issue. Democratic voters are split on who is best equipped to handle the economy, with 45 percent saying Sanders and 44 percent saying Clinton.

Democratic voters said Clinton is the best candidate for healthcare, terrorism and foreign policy, while they give Sanders the nod on the issue of climate change. 

Both Sanders and Clinton have astronomically high favorability ratings among Democrats, although Sanders has a strong advantage over who is viewed as more honest and trustworthy.

Ninety-two percent said Sanders is honest and trustworthy, with only 3 percent saying he’s not. For Clinton, 69 percent of Democrats described her as honest and trustworthy versus 25 percent who said she’s not.

Still, most Democrats believe Clinton is the more electable of the two, with 89 percent saying she has a good chance of defeating a Republican in the general election compared to only 57 percent saying the same of Sanders.

The Sanders campaign has sought to highlight polling that shows the Vermont senator outperforming Clinton in head-to-head match-ups with Republicans and has accused the media of not reporting on that aspect of the polls.

The Quinnipiac University survey of 727 likely Democratic caucusgoers in Iowa was conducted between Dec. 4 and Dec. 13 and has a 3.6 percentage point margin of error.