Poll: Bernie Sanders is walloping Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire
On Politics
Donovan Slack, USA TODAY 7:33 p.m. EST January 19, 2016
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 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks at a town hall on Jan. 19, 2016, in Carroll, Iowa. (Photo: Andrew Harnik, AP)
Bernie Sanders is beating Hillary Clinton by a whopping 27 percentage points among Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire, according to a new CNN/WMUR poll.
The Vermont senator leads the former secretary of State 60%-33%, expanding his lead by nearly 20 points since late November and early December, when he led her 50%-40%.
Sanders has been the consistent leader in polls of the first-in-the-nation primary state recently, but this is his largest margin of any poll in the race, according to RealClearPolitics.
The CNN/WMUR survey found that more than half of New Hampshire Democratic primary voters — 52% — have already “definitely decided” who they will vote for, signaling less room for shifting loyalties as the primary approaches on Feb. 9.
Voters surveyed said they thought Sanders would be better on the economy, 57%-33%, and has characteristics a president should have, 58%-33%. In another troubling number for Clinton, some 55% of respondents said she is the “least honest.” Of the remainder, 36% didn't provide an answer, while 2% chose Sanders.
A majority — 55% — did say she would best handle the Islamic State threat, but only a fraction — 13% — said foreign policy and national security is the most important issue. Twice as many said jobs and the economy were more important.
The poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire, surveyed 420 residents from Jan. 13 to 18 who said they planned to vote in the Democratic primary. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points. |
