Warren leads Biden for first time in a US primary race: poll

Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has overtaken former vice president Joe Biden in the key state of Iowa for the first time in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, a new poll out Sunday showed.

The Des Moines Register/CNN poll had Warren with 22 percent of the vote among likely participants in the Iowa caucuses, compared to 20 percent for Biden and 11 percent for Bernie Sanders.

Biden had until now has been the dominant frontrunner in the crowded Democratic field, but the survey showed a surge in favor Warren in the state that votes first in the primary race.

Biden remains the leader in national polls, but the results suggest that the race is narrowing to a two candidate contest, as Sanders loses ground to Warren.

The Massachusetts senator has vied with Sanders for the progressive vote with bold ideas on health care and education while Biden has campaigned as an experienced moderate who has the best chance of defeating Trump in 2020.

All other candidates polled in single digits.

Biden and Warren are both septuagenarians, but the former vice president, who is 76, has been the subject of more questions about his age than Warren, who is 70.