Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, once down huge in Nevada, is now tied with Hillary Clinton there, according to a new poll.
The Washington Free Beacon/TargetPoint Consulting poll released Friday shows the two candidates even at 45 percent each in Nevada.
{mosads}Nevada has seen few polls, but Clinton had been thought to be well ahead of Sanders.
A December Gravis poll of the state showed Clinton leading by 23 percentage points. At times last year, Clinton led Sanders by as many as 54 points in Nevada.
The new poll is the first in Nevada by the pollsters. The Free Beacon is a conservative publication seen as antagonistic toward Clinton. And TargetPoint is “a conservative firm stocked with Republican operatives,” according to Slate.
Clinton’s campaign had expressed concerns this week that Sanders could be gaining ground in Nevada.
“You have a caucus-style format, and he’ll have the momentum coming out of New Hampshire, presumably, so there’s a lot of reasons he should do well,” campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Tuesday, adding that the 80 percent of voters in the state are white. “There’s reason to believe the race will tighten even there.”