Trump, Sanders On Top In Iowa New Quinnipiac Polls; Rick Perry Quits GOP Race
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/CBS News) -- A new Quinnipiac poll showed Donald Trump still at the top amongst Republicans in Iowa in the presidential contest, and Bernie Sanders possibly edging ahead of Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side.
The latest poll, taken from Aug. 27 to Sept. 8, came as former Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the Republican race Friday. He had been trailing substantially in the polls.
Trump was on top amongst Republicans with 27 percent of the Republican vote among likely Democratic caucusgoers in Iowa. His closest competition was Dr. Ben Carson with 21 percent.
Back in July, the same poll had both men at 10 percent. Meanwhile, former frontrunner Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gets just 3 percent.
Six percent of Iowa likely Republican caucusgoers chose former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. And Carly Fiorina, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio each got five percent, CBS News reported.
But Trump, a Queens native and Manhattan real estate mogul, also tops the list of candidates caucusgoers rejected - 25 percent said they "would definitely not support" him, and Bush is close behind on this question, with 23 percent.
The majority of Republican Caucus-goers - 79 percent - say that experience outside of Washington is better for a president than Washington experience. Indeed, Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll, noted that over half the votes here go "to three candidates who have never held political office - Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina."
While Trump has a 60 percent favorability rating, Carson is much higher, with 79 percent favorability, and 88 percent think he's honest and trustworthy, compared to 56 percent who think Trump is honest and trustworthy. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has the highest unfavorables in the field, with 50 percent. Only 37 percent hold a favorable view of him.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Sanders (I-Vermont), a Brooklyn native, has made huge gains since Quinnipiac's July 2 poll, when he had just 33 percent support to Clinton's 52 percent, CBS News reported. In the most recent poll, he picked up eight percentage points to threaten Clinton, with 41 percent to her 40 percent – though his lead is within a margin of error, CBS News reported.
Vice President Joe Biden, who is considering a presidential bid, also moved up in this poll, netting 12 percent support, compared to seven percent in June, CBS News reported. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley had three percent support, and another three percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers say they're undecided.
Sanders' upward momentum stems from his message, which is "more in line with disproportionately liberal primary and caucus voters," Brown told CBS News. A greater portion of voters who describe themselves as "very" liberal picked Sanders (59 percent) over Clinton (29 percent).
Sanders also did better among men, winning 49 percent of their support to Clinton's 28 percent. Clinton, on the other hand, did better among women, leading Sanders 49 percent to 35 percent, CBS News reported.
While Clinton's numbers on personality traits are still fairly strong - 78 percent rated her as favorable, and 64 percent said she was honest and trustworthy - Sanders and Biden both had lower negatives. While 20 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers did not have a favorable impression of Clinton, just six percent said the same of Sanders and nine percent of Biden. A full 30 percent of voters said Clinton is not honest and trustworthy, but just five percent said that of Sanders and Biden.
Clinton scored better than both on strong leadership qualities, with 92 percent for Clinton, versus 76 percent for Sanders and 81 percent for Biden, and 92 percent said she has the temperament and personality to handle an international crisis. Just 65 percent said the same of Sanders and 81 percent of Biden.
Some of Sanders' strongest supporters are college-aged voters and young adults. Sixty-seven percent said they'd vote for him, versus just 29 percent who said they would vote for Clinton. Yet those voters can't exactly be counted on to show up to caucus. Take Mr. Obama's 2008 victory in Iowa: 17 percent of caucus attendees were between the ages of 17 and 24 years of age, while 60 percent of all Democratic caucusgoers that year were older than 45 years old.
The poll surveyed 832 likely Iowa Democratic caucus participants and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.