AP Photo Iowa poll shows a tighter Democratic race

The Democratic race in Iowa has tightened significantly in the last month, according to the latest Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa poll.

Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by 2 percentage points, down from the 9-point lead she held in December. Clinton has the support of 42 percent of likely caucus-goers, while Sanders has 40 percent. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is at 4 percent. About 7 percent said they were uncommitted, while another 7 percent said they were not sure of their choice.


Forty percent of those voters, however, said they were still open to persuasion, while 59 percent said their mind was made up.

Sanders’ net favorability has surged 15 points since December to +83 (89 percent favorable to 6 percent unfavorable). Clinton’s favorability has slightly ticked up to +74 (86 percent favorable to 12 percent unfavorable).

Among likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump still sit atop the pack at 25 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Marco Rubio is third at 12 percent, followed by Ben Carson (11 percent), Rand Paul (5 percent) and Jeb Bush (4 percent). The rest of the field is polling at 3 percent or less, with 5 percent uncommitted and 6 percent still unsure.

More than 40 percent said their minds were made up, while 56 percent said they could still be persuaded.

Cruz also leads in net favorability at +57 percent (76 percent favorable to 19 percent unfavorable). Though Trump is polling well, his net favorability is just +9 (54 percent favorable to 45 percent unfavorable).

The overall poll was conducted Jan. 7-10 via telephone interviews of registered Iowa voters. The Democratic sample includes 503 voters who told Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll, that they definitely or probably would attend the Feb. 1 Democratic caucuses and 500 likely Republican caucus-goers. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points for both parties.