--- title: Bernie Sanders Surges Ahead of Hillary Clinton in Iowa Poll description: Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders surged in Iowa, where he is now beating Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, according to a new poll canonical: https://time.com/4189537/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-poll-iowa/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-21T23:09:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:40.916Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bernie Sanders Surges Ahead of Hillary Clinton in New Iowa Poll og:description: The Vermont senator was trailing Clinton in December og:url: https://time.com/4189537/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-poll-iowa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7916fc0581ca734/69887a102dce01d4999e7746/bernie-sanders11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5094 og:image:height: 2865 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidates Appear At South Carolina Statehouse On Martin Luther King Day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bernie Sanders Surges Ahead of Hillary Clinton in New Iowa Poll twitter:description: The Vermont senator was trailing Clinton in December twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7916fc0581ca734/69887a102dce01d4999e7746/bernie-sanders11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders Surges Ahead of Hillary Clinton in New Iowa Poll > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 21, 2016 11:09 PM UTC  Bernie Sanders listens to a speaker during the King Day at the Dome rally on Jan. 18, 2016 in Columbia, SC. Bernie Sanders listens to a speaker during the King Day at the Dome rally on Jan. 18, 2016 in Columbia, SC. Sean Rayford—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 21, 2016 11:09 PM UTC [Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders](http://time.com/4188073/bernie-sanders-winning-white-house/) is now beating Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in Iowa, [according to a new poll](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/politics/iowa-poll-full-results-cnn-orc/index.html), just over a week away from the Iowa caucuses. The [CNN/ORC poll](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/politics/iowa-poll-full-results-cnn-orc/index.html) shows the Vermont senator has 51% support, while Clinton has 43% support. The findings indicate a significant shift from a CNN/ORC December poll that found Clinton leading with 54% support and Sanders trailing with 36%. Sanders has also overtaken Clinton in New Hampshire, according to [a recent CNN/WMUR poll](http://time.com/4186064/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-new-hampshire-poll/) that showed the Senator ahead of the former Secretary in the state 60% to 33%. As he has gained ground in the race, Sanders has made clear that he sees his insurgent campaign as having a real chance at winning the White House. “People say, ‘what we’re hearing, Bernie, is that people like your ideas but they think you can’t win—you’re a nice guy, but you can’t beat the Republicans,’” Sanders [told TIME.](http://time.com/4187664/bernie-sanders-argues-he-can-win-in-november/) “That’s wrong.” The Iowa poll of 280 Democratic likely caucus-goers was conducted from Friday to Wednesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points. Recent polls also showed Sanders is also [leading Clinton in New Hampshire](http://time.com/4186064/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-new-hampshire-poll/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4189537/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-poll-iowa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4189537/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-poll-iowa/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders Surges Ahead of Hillary Clinton in New Iowa Poll","datePublished":"2016-01-21T23:09:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:40.916Z","description":"The Vermont senator was trailing Clinton in December","url":"https://time.com/4189537/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-poll-iowa/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7916fc0581ca734/69887a102dce01d4999e7746/bernie-sanders11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7916fc0581ca734/69887a102dce01d4999e7746/bernie-sanders11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Appear At South Carolina Statehouse On Martin Luther King Day","caption":"Democratic Presidential Candidates Appear At South Carolina Statehouse On Martin Luther King Day","creditText":"Sean Rayford—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4189537/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-poll-iowa/","name":"Bernie Sanders Surges Ahead of Hillary Clinton in New Iowa Poll"}}]}] ```