Two weeks before the Iowa contest in the presidential election, Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remained deadlocked in a new state poll, The Washington Postreported this morning.
Thirty-three per cent of Iowa Democrats likely to participate in the caucuses support Mr Obama, 29 per cent back Ms Clinton and 20 per cent support former North Carolina senator John Edwards, according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll.
A month ago, Clinton, of New York, had 30 per cent support compared to 26 per cent for Obama, of Illinois, the Post said.
Eight Democrats and eight Republicans are vying for the right to face off in the November 4th, 2008, election to choose a successor to Republican President George W. Bush, who will leave office after two terms.
Iowa holds the first of the state-by-state nominating contests on January 3rd, when supporters of each presidential candidate gather in meetings called caucuses to declare their presidential preference.
The poll underscores the importance of efforts by the Democratic candidates to turn out supporters for the caucuses, the newspaper said.
The telephone poll of 652 Iowans likely to participate in the Democratic caucuses was conducted December 13th to 17th and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
More than seven in 10 of Obama's supporters said they were certain to participate in the caucuses, compared with 59 per cent of Clinton's backers, the Post said.
However, the poll found that Clinton's supporters were the most firmly behind her. Seventy per cent said they would definitely back her, while Edwards' and Obama's supporters were more apt to say they might change their minds.