Bernard Sanders, presidential candidate, closes gap with Hillary Clinton in Iowa

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernard Sanders has closed in on Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race for Iowa caucus voters, cutting her lead to 7 percentage points.

Mr. Sanders trailed Mrs. Clinton 37 percent to 30 percent in the the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll released Saturday.

The survey marked the first time Mrs. Clinton has captured less than 50 percent of the polling among likely participants in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest, as more than a third of her support has waned since May.

“This feels like 2008 all over again,” said J. Ann Selzer, pollster for the Iowa poll told the newspaper, referring to Mrs. Clinton’s painful loss to then-Sen. Barack Obama in the Iowa caucuses.

Mr. Sanders, a Vermont independent and avowed socialist running on a liberal agenda of fighting Wall Street, income inequality and climate change, also leads Mrs. Clinton in two recent polls of Democratic voters in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Mrs. Clinton has been unable to escape controversy over her exclusive use of a private email account for official business when she was secretary of state, as new questions about her handling of classified material dog her campaign.

But Iowa voters apparently are not backing Mr. Sanders in protest to Mrs. Clinton. About 96 percent of Mr. Sanders’ supporters said they mostly back him and his ideas, with just 2 percent identify themselves as anti-Clinton, according to the pollsters.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who is backing Mrs. Clinton, said Sunday that the Clinton campaign in Iowa is better that it was in 2008 and ready for a competitive race.

“She is still ahead in these polls. I think she’s running a strong campaign,” Mrs. Klobuchar said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“This is not a coronation. She expected there would be other candidates in the race,” said Mrs. Klobuchar. “You can’t just waltz in and win a Democratic primary.”