--- ---  # Hillary Clinton Holds Lead Over Bernie Sanders in Iowa by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 25, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks on stage at AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere at the DOC NYC on November 19, 2015 in New York City. Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks on stage at AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere at the DOC NYC on November 19, 2015 in New York City.Larry Busacca—Getty Images for AOL by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 25, 2015 12:00 PM UTC Hillary Clinton has held on to a firm lead over Bernie Sanders in Iowa, according to a new poll that shows her outpacing the Democratic primary field in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. A majority of likely Democratic caucus participants, or 51%, say they back Clinton, while 42% support the Vermont Senator, the Quinnipiac poll published on Wednesday shows. Those numbers are virtually unchanged compared to the same poll results a month ago, which showed a 51-40 split favoring Clinton. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has struggled to break out of the low single digits during the campaign, registers at 4% despite months of dedicated campaigning in Iowa. Clinton does best among Democratic caucus-goers who are looking for a strong leader, while Sanders has the most support among voters who want a candidate that cares about their needs. Sanders is the best candidate to handle the economy, 47 percent of Democrats say, while 42 percent say Clinton is best on this issue. Some 77% said Clinton was best equipped to handle foreign policy. More than a third of like caucus-goers said they were willing to change their mind. The margin of error in the poll is 4.2 percentage points. **Read Next:** [_Bernie Sanders Leads TIME’s Person of the Year Poll_](http://time.com/4124110/bernie-sanders-leads-times-person-of-the-year-poll/) ### See Hillary Clinton's Evolution in 20 Photos  Teenager: Hillary Rodham poses in her 1965 senior class portrait from Park Ridge East High School in Illinois. AP  Law School Student: Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham pose for a snapshot at Yale Law School in 1972\. They married in 1975. Clinton Presidential Library  Mother: Clinton poses with her husband, Bill, then in his first term as governor, with their week-old daughter, Chelsea, on March 5, 1980. Donald R. Broyles—AP  Campaign Companion: Clinton celebrates her husband's victory in a Democratic runoff in Little Rock, Ark. on June 8, 1982. AP  Arkansas First Lady: Clinton is seen in her inaugural ball gown in 1985. A. Lynn—AP  Political Wife: Clinton celebrates her husband's inauguration in Little Rock on Sept. 20, 1991. Danny Johnston—AP  Dignitary: Clinton receives an honorary law degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., on May 30, 1992. Chris Ocken—AP  Campaigner: Clinton speaks at a meeting during the presidential campaign for her husband in Buffalo, N.Y., on April 4, 1992. Bill Sikes—AP  First Lady: Clinton appears at the MTV Inauguration Ball at the Washington Convention Center on Jan. 20, 1993. Shayna Brennan—AP  Second-Term First Lady: Clinton attends the Inaugural Ball after her husband was sworn in to a second term on Jan. 20, 1997. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  New York Senator: Clinton speaks at a press conference with female Democratic senators in Washington on June 21, 2006. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Committee Member: Clinton listens to the testimony of Lt. General David Petraeus to the Senate Armed Forces Committee at a hearing on Capital Hill in Washington on Jan. 23, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Candidate: Clinton holds a a campaign event in Portsmouth, N.H., while running for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sept. 2, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Campaigner: Clinton speaks at a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Jan. 2, 2008. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secretary of State: Clinton kisses President Obama at a joint session of Congress in Washington on Feb. 24, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Witness: Clinton joins Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Dec. 3, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Witness: Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Jan. 23, 2013. J. Scott Applewhite—AP  Author: Clinton attends a signing memoir, "Hard Choices," at a Costco in Arlington, Va., on June 14, 2014. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Grandmother: Clinton holds her granddaughter Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on Sept. 27, 2014. Office of President Clinton/AP  Once and Future Candidate: Clinton speaks at Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa, on Sept. 14, 2014. Brooks Kraft—Corbis Poll: Hillary Clinton Holds Lead Over Bernie Sanders in Iowa ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4126752/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-iowa-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4126752/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-iowa-poll/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Holds Lead Over Bernie Sanders in Iowa","datePublished":"2015-11-25T12:00:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:51.923Z","description":"Hillary Clinton has held on to a firm lead over Bernie Sanders in Iowa, according to a new poll.","url":"https://time.com/4126752/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-iowa-poll/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Iowa","Bernie Sanders","Polling","Martin O'malley"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db12b8a32de3aa4/69887273a988cac9466b56ef/gettyimages-497918268.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db12b8a32de3aa4/69887273a988cac9466b56ef/gettyimages-497918268.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere","caption":"AOL's MAKERS: Once And For All Premiere","creditText":"Larry Busacca—Getty Images for AOL","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":"https://time.com/4126752/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-iowa-poll/","name":"Hillary Clinton Holds Lead Over Bernie Sanders in Iowa"}}]}] ```