Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee Out Front in Iowa

A poll released on Thursday finds former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dominating the Democratic side while former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas leads the GOP pack in Iowa, home of the first presidential caucus.

Public Policy Polling (PPP), which has connections to Democrats, finds Huckabee, who won in Iowa back in 2008, leading with 20 percent followed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida takes third with 12 percent followed by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., with 10 percent. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey garners 9 percent, followed by two candidates from Wisconsin: U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., with 8 percent and Gov. Scott Walker with 6 percent. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., takes 4 percent while former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., gets only 3 percent despite winning Iowa in 2012.

Clinton easily beats the Democratic competition, taking 59 percent, with Vice President Joe Biden in distant second with 12 percent and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, in third with 11 percent. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York take 3 percent apiece while other candidates take 2 percent or less. With Clinton out of the mix, Biden leads with 34 percent followed by Warren with 22 percent, Cuomo with 7 percent and Booker with 4 percent.

In potential general election match-up, Clinton beats Huckabee and Paul by 4 percent, Bush by 5 percent, Christie by 6 percent and Cruz by 7 percent.

The poll of 914 Iowa voters was taken from May 15-19 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent. The poll of 356 Iowa Democrats was taken over the same period and had a margin of error of +/- 5.2 percent. The poll of 303 Iowa Republicans was also taken at the same time and had a margin of error of +/- 5.6 percent.