Watch Live Stream: Hillary Clinton Rally in Des Moines, Iowa

DES MOINES, IOWA — Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is returning to Des Moines Thursday to rally supporters in Iowa, one of about a dozen battleground states that could decide the 2016 race to the White House. Child-care is expected to be a major focus of the address.

Iowa has been fairly safe territory for Democrats in the past two elections, when President Barack Obama won easily, but the midterm elections tilted the balance of power in the state and turned it red. Both senators are Republicans, the governor is a Republican and only one member of Iowa’s congressional delegation is a Democrat.

Iowa has only a handful of electoral votes — six – but in a tight race, every electoral vote counts, and both candidates are focusing on Iowa. The former secretary of state — who barely survived Iowa’s first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses to start the nomination process in January —is trailing Republican nominee Donald Trump by almost five points in Iowa, according to a Real Clear Politics polling average.

Clinton’s 12:30 p.m. rally at the downtown Cowles Common in Des Moines, kicks off early voting in Iowa, which has traditionally favored Democrats in swing states, though the divide in pre-election ballots was less pronounced in 2012 than it was in prior presidential elections, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

The Associated Press said more people in battleground states North Carolina and Florida are requesting early ballots than at this point in 2012, and Clinton is the likely benefactor. The AP said the sample size is small, but its analysis shows Clinton is hitting the markers set by Democrats in 2008 and 2012

The rally in Iowa’s largest and capital city comes days after Clinton and Trump met in the first of three presidential debates. Clinton is riding a psychological bump and claims to have won the showdown, while Trump claimed a victory in online polls — including one by Patch — that are unscientific.

Clinton’s bump may be more than psychological.

A post-debate Morning Consult National Tracking Poll taken Sept. 26-27 of 1,253 likely voters showed Clinton with a 45 percent to 41 percent lead over Trump in a two-way matchup, and a 41 percent to 38 percent lead over the Republican nominee in a four-way race that includes Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

The survey suggests that Clinton’s performance in the debate was superior to Trump’s and improved her standing overall among voters. Forty-nine percent of respondents said Clinton won the debate, compared with 26 percent who thought Trump prevailed. Nearly 25 percent said they had a “much more favorable view” of Clinton than before the debate. Only 15 percent said the debate buoyed their impression of Trump, and 26 percent said they had a “much less favorable view” of the New York businessman after the joust.

Regardless of who “won” the 90-plus-minute debate, the live broadcast gave both candidates a chance to square off on such issues as national security, race relations and the economy. Zingers also erupted as discussion turned to such topics as Trump’s tax returns and Clinton’s deleted emails.

As the candidates duked it out, NBC’s Lester Holt, the debate’s moderator, butted in regularly with “We have to move on” and “your time is up.” Nearly 90 million viewers tuned in across the United States to watch the two presidential candidates spar.

Clinton’s visit comes a day after Trump rallied voters in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a city that hugs the state’s western border and leans conservative.

Watch the live stream of Clinton's rally in Des Moines Thursday below.

Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons