A Iowa poll shows President Donald Trump to have surged ahead of his election opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, with less than three days to go until the election.
The poll from the Des Moines Register and Mediacom shows Trump polling at 48% compared to Biden's 41%, giving the President a seven-point lead in the battleground state. The same pollsters in September found Trump and Biden to be tied at 47% each.
The poll, conducted from October 26-29, took into account 814 likely Iowa voters and had a margin of error of 3.4%, demonstrating comfortable lead in the state for Trump. The Des Moines Register commissioned the poll through Selzer & Co.
According to J. Ann Selzer, President of Selzer & Co., while the Republicans still lead among men, the gender gap is narrowing in Iowa. Independent voters are also moving once again towards the President.
"The president is holding demographic groups that he won in Iowa four years ago, and that would give someone a certain level of comfort with their standing," said Selzer. She noted, however, that neither of the candidates have reached 50% in the polls, creating room for improvement for both candidates.
Trump took Iowa by 9.4 points in 2016, a larger margin of victory than he had in many states considered safe for Republicans such as Texas and Georgia. Prior to 2016, the state had only swung Republican once since 1984, when George W. Bush won the state by a margin of 10,000 votes in 2004.