DES MOINES, Iowa -- Democratic presidential contender John Kerry opened a five-point lead on three tightly bunched rivals in Iowa three days before the state's caucuses, according to a Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll released [today].
In the latest three-day tracking poll, Kerry gained two percentage points to 24 percent, with Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt each dropping two points to 19 percent and John Edwards holding steady at 17 percent.
All four contenders were within the poll's margin of error of 4.5 percent, setting up a tight dash to the finish in Monday's caucuses, the first Democratic nominating contest.
"Any one of the four can win this one," pollster John Zogby said. With Iowa voters taking a final look at candidates and trying to make a choice, 13 percent of likely caucus-goers are still undecided.
The rolling poll of 503 likely caucus-goers was taken Tuesday through Thursday and will continue each day until Monday's caucuses.
Dean and Gephardt have battled back and forth for months for the top spot in polls in Iowa, but the late charges by Edwards and Kerry have scrambled the Democratic picture.
Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, leads among Democrats, young and old voters, men and women, liberals and moderates, and those who say they are "definitely" voting in Monday's caucuses, Zogby said.
"The issue will be, as it always is, turnout," Zogby said. "Gephardt has arguably the best team on the ground."
