Donald Trump narrowly leads Hillary Clinton in Iowa
Donald Trump is in a dead heat with Hillary Clinton in Iowa, according to a Suffolk University poll released Thursday.
The poll found that 41 percent of the state's likely voters support the GOP presidential nominee and 40 percent back the Democratic presidential nominee. Seventeen percent of voters said they are undecided. Eight percent of people refused to say who they plan to vote for.
With third party candidates taken into account, Trump would lead Clinton 37 percent to 36 percent in Iowa. The poll found that about 6 percent back Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and 3 percent back Green Party candidate Jill Stein. In that four-way race, 17 percent are still undecided.
The poll found 93 percent of people said they are very likely to cast a ballot in this year's general election and about 7 percent said they are somewhat likely.
More than half of people surveyed said the country is heading on the wrong track and nearly a third said it is heading in the right direction. About 11 percent were undecided when asked that question.
Half of people also said that they disapprove of how President Obama has handled his job and 43 percent said that they approve.
Asked about a list of issues facing the U.S., a quarter of people polled named jobs and the economy as the most important issue facing the next president and 21 percent named terrorism and national security.
President Obama defeated Mitt Romney in Iowa in 2012 and defeated John McCain in 2008. George W. Bush carried Iowa in 2004, but Al Gore won the state in 2000.
The poll comes a few days after Quinnipiac University found that Clinton is virtually tied with Trump in Florida, but she leads in Ohio and has a double-digit lead in the other major swing state of Pennsylvania.
The survey polled 500 likely voters between August 8 and 10 with a 4.4 percentage point margin of error.