WASHINGTON (WHDH) - The Iowa caucus is less than a week away and Minnesota Amy Klobuchar is surging, according to our exclusive 7NEWS/Emerson College poll.
Longtime staffers say that the rest of the country is finally getting to know the Amy Klobuchar they have known for years and according to them, the voters are liking what they’re seeing.
“Underestimate Amy Klobuchar at your peril,” one said.
The latest from our exclusive poll shows the Minnesota senator surging to third place in Iowa among likely Democratic caucus voters.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has 30 percent, former Vice President Joe Biden has 21 percent and Klobuchar is polling at 13 percent.
When asked if she has any indication as the origin of her newfound popularity, Klobuchar said it is all to do with introductions.
“It takes a while for people to get to know me. I’m not as well-known as people like the vice president and others like Senator Sanders who have been running for president for a long time,” she explained.
Klobuchar has landed ahead of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren who came in fourth with 11 percent and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg who pulled 10 percent in our Iowa poll.
Three other candidates — businessman Tom Steyer, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard — are all tied at 5 percent.
”So many Americans want someone who’s going to represent them and they’re tired of the noise and the nonsense and extremes in our politics and they have a home with me,” Klobuchar said.
One of the biggest issues for Democratic voters this year is electability — or finding a candidate who can beat President Trump.
Klobuchar says she is uniquely qualified to fill this role.
“I’m also from the middle of the country and I think a lot of Massachusetts and New Hampshire voters get this; it’s that that’s an area we didn’t win in 2016,” she said. “when I’ve had one matchup in 2016 in the place that knows me the best, that’s my state of Minnesota it showed in a public poll that I beat him by 17 points. Eight points more than the Vice President and anyone else. So once I can spread that across the country we’re going to be in pretty good shape.”
The impeachment trial has kept Klobuchar and other senators in the race off the campaign trail.
She says that despite her desire to campaign, sitting as a juror in this trial is every senator’s constitutional duty.
“My hope is regardless of how my Republicans eventually vote on impeachment that they at least vote to allow witnesses so we can get to the truth,” she said.
As for Iowa, Klobuchar knows she has a lot of work still to do.
“Thirteen percent, 10 percent, whatever it is is great but how do you get to that next level to knock off a Bernie or a Biden at 25 percent?” she wondered. “I think I have to defy expectations. Who knows what that means with so many candidates still running. But I have to be able to keep going.”
Iowa and Minnesota do share a border, but our pollster says that Senator Klobuchar is showing similar increases with voters in New Hampshire as well as across the country.
They feel it would be wrong to write off her surge as simply a neighboring state bounce.
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