Iowa Poll Shows Clinton And Romney In Tight Race With Rivals

Des Moines, IA (AHN) - A new poll of Iowa voters shows Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney each in a tie with their respective presidential rivals.

According to the poll released by the American Research Group on Friday, Romney, a long-time front-runner of Iowa polls, is only one percentage point away from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has 27 percent support among Republican voters in the state. The poll also showed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in a statistical dead heat at 25 percent, with her main rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), who was only two percentage points ahead.

Huckabee's surge is one of the most significant findings from the poll, although his gains in Iowa have been evident as early as three weeks ago, when he jumped to second place in a CBS News/New York Times poll. That poll cited Huckabee's growing support from Christian conservatives as the reason for the surge.

This new poll also shows Clinton's support fall 10 points among women and two points across the state, even after she abandoned her usually subtle, above-the-fray approach with intensified attacks on Obama. The poll results come two days after Clinton was endorsed by singer and Oscar-winning actress Barbra Streisand.

The Iowa caucuses scheduled for January 3 are crucial since they officially open the nominating contests and traditionally have served to winnow the most likely party nominees from mere presidential hopefuls. Republican and Democratic presidential contenders are currently focusing all their efforts at wooing voters in the state in the few weeks left before the caucuses.

In the poll, Huckabee was followed by former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson at 14 percent, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani who is in neck and neck with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at 9 percent.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards got 23 percent in the poll, followed by Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) at 8 percent, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at 4 percent, and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who moved to Iowa with his family this month to strengthen his campaign, at 3 percent.

Thirty percent of Iowa voters are undecided, according to the poll, which was conducted through telephone interviews on November 26-29. Margin of error is 4 percentage points.