民主党总统候选人，参议员伯尼·桑德斯在2020年1月20日南卡罗来纳州哥伦比亚的圆顶游行集会的国王日向人群发表演讲。这项活动首次于2000年举行，反对在州议会展示邦联会旗，吸引了超过少数民主党总统候选人来到早期的初选州。
佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯在爱荷华州民主党选民的新一轮投票中名列前茅，这为他在这个选举周期的早期投票州赢得了最多的支持。
年增长率为25%纽约时报/锡耶纳学院投票周六发布的桑德斯在爱荷华州领先，这将是第一个参加2月3日初选的州。
印第安纳州南本德市前市长皮特·巴蒂吉以18%的支持率位居第二。领先全国民调平均水平的前副总统乔·拜登以17%的得票率位居第三，紧随其后的是参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦，得票率为15%。
在年轻选民中，桑德斯在民主党选民中的份额甚至更大。18至29岁的爱荷华州民主党人中有40%喜欢桑德斯，30至44岁的爱荷华州民主党人中也有31%喜欢桑德斯。
在爱荷华州，桑德斯支持者的性别构成严重失衡，比任何其他候选人都更加不均衡。尽管在爱荷华州有34%的男性民主党人支持他，但该州只有17%的女性民主党人支持他，这是爱荷华州竞选中最大的性别差距。他也是爱荷华州唯一一位男性支持率超过5个百分点的民主党候选人。
尽管过去几个月来爱荷华州的竞选状况基本上围绕着几个顶尖候选人——桑德斯、拜登和巴蒂吉——已经稳定下来，但这场竞争可能比单个民调所能揭示的更具流动性。
这纽约时报调查发现，将近五分之二的爱荷华州民主党党团成员表示他们还没有下定决心，他们可能会被说服投票给不同的候选人。
例如，沃伦可以从抽走桑德斯的支持中获益。民意测验发现，她是爱荷华州44%桑德斯支持者的第二选择，这是竞选中两个候选人之间的最高相关性。
尽管爱荷华州民主党人在周六的选举结果中坚决支持桑德斯，但人们仍然认为他不如拜登有能力击败现任总统唐纳德·特朗普。
32%的爱荷华州民主党人认为拜登最有能力挑战特朗普的连任竞选，相比之下，只有24%的人认为桑德斯也是如此。
在爱荷华州，不到一半的巴蒂吉支持者认为他最有能力击败特朗普，这是支持者在这个问题上受到质疑的最高民主党人的最低比例。
BERNIE SANDERS SURGES TO THE TOP IN NEW IOWA POLL JUST DAYS BEFORE CAUCUSES BEGIN
Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) addresses the crowd during King Day at the Dome March and Rally on January 20, 2020 in Columbia, South Carolina. The event, first held in 2000 in opposition to the display of the Confederate battle flag at the statehouse, attracted more than a handful Democratic presidential candidates to the early primary state.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has ranked atop a new poll of Iowa Democratic voters, providing him with among the greatest amount of support he has received in the early-voting state during this election cycle.
At 25 percent in a New York Times/Siena College poll released Saturday, Sanders is leading the field in Iowa, which will be the first state to participate in the primary process on February 3.
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, came in second place at 18 percent. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who leads the national polling average, came in third place at 17 percent, followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren at 15 percent.
Among younger voters, Sanders' share of the Democratic electorate is even stronger. Forty percent of Iowa Democrats 18 years old to 29 years old prefer Sanders, and 31 percent of Iowa Democrats 30 years old to 44 years old do as well.
There is a substantial imbalance in the gender-composition of Sanders supporters in Iowa, more uneven than for any other candidate. While 34 percent of male Democrats support him in Iowa, he is backed by just 17 percent of female Democrats in the state, the largest gender spread in the Iowa race. He is also the only Democratic candidate in Iowa to be preferred by men by more than five percentage points.
While the state of the race in Iowa over the last several months has largely settled around a few top candidates—Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg—the contest may be more fluid than individual polls are able to reveal.
The New York Times survey found that nearly two in five Iowa Democratic caucus-goers said their minds hadn't been made up and they could be persuaded to vote for a different candidate.
Warren could stand to benefit from siphoning off support from Sanders, for example. The poll found that she was the second choice for 44 percent of Sanders supporters in Iowa, the highest correlation between any two candidates in the race.
And while Iowa Democrats have backed Sanders decisively in Saturday's results, he is still not viewed as equally capable as Biden of being able to defeat incumbent President Donald Trump.
Thirty-two percent of Iowa Democrats think Biden is most capable of mounting a challenge to Trump's re-election campaign, compared with just 24 percent who think the same of Sanders.
Less than half of Buttigieg supporters in Iowa feel he is most equipped to beat Trump, the lowest share for any of the top Democrats whose supporters were queried about this issue.
