Clinton,Trump lead nationally, face dead heat in Iowa Caucus, says CNN poll

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and real estate tycoon Donald Trump are leading their respective Democratic and Republican parties presidential races but are locked in a dead heat with their rivals in the key Iowa Caucus, an opinion poll said on Monday.

In Iowa, which would kick off the primary presidential race some two weeks from now, Clinton and her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders are tied at 45% each, as per a CNN/ORG poll. This is not considered good news for the former Secretary of State given her early start to the campaign, a well-oiled campaign machinery and her national recognition.

Nationally Clinton at 54% leads Sanders at 36% by 18%, CNN said. In a previous poll about a month ago, Clinton (56%) had an advantage of a 25% over Sanders (31%), it said. A similar story repeats for the Republican party ahead of the Iowa Caucus where Ted Cruz, the Senator from Texas (27%) is in a dead heat with Trump (25%).

Only two other candidates -- Marco Rubio at 14% and Ben Carson at 10% get more than 10% of the votes, while rest of the other candidate are less than five%. However, Trump at 34% leads Cruz at 20% by 14% nationally. Again only Rubio (12%) and Carson (10%) get more than 10%, while rest of the Republican aspirants do not cross 4%.