New Poll Shows Bernie Sanders Opening Up Huge Lead Over Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders has opened up an astonishing lead over fellow Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, according to a new CNN/WMUR poll.
The latest surge in Bernie Sanders’ poll numbers comes on the heels of the fourth Democratic debate held in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday night, which many experts believed was won by Sanders.
The Vermont senator now leads Clinton by an imposing 27 percentage points, a figure which might have been deemed impossible by many of Sanders’ own faithful at the start of his campaign at the back end of last year. And while Sanders has worked his way toward closing the gap over the course of the last two months, the figures of the latest polls are set to confound many, including his rival Hillary Clinton.
The new poll shows Bernie Sanders leading with 60 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 33 in New Hampshire, seeing a huge expansion in the senator’s lead since mid-November, when the same poll tipped him to edge Clinton out by only seven percentage points.
More worrying for the former Secretary of State, however, is the fact that the Vermont senator’s 27 percent lead is the highest ever recorded by him since the start of the campaign, according to the stats provided by RealClear Politics.
According to KGW, 52 percent of Democratic primary voters have already “definitely decided” whom they will vote for during the New Hampshire primary, meaning Hillary Clinton may not have much of a chance to change loyalties before February 9.
On the various other issues that were posed to the New Hampshire Democratic primary voters during the poll, there emerged only one clear winner: Bernie Sanders.
Sanders’ promise to break up the big banks seems to have struck a chord with voters, with about 57 percent of the number of people surveyed saying that the Vermont senator will be better positioned to handle America’s economic problems, with only 33 percent of people voting in favor of Clinton. Furthermore, 58 percent of people said that Sanders has all the characteristics to become the next President of the United States, and a remarkable 55 percent people said that they view Hillary Clinton as the “least honest” candidate in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Although about 55 percent of the number of people surveyed said that Clinton will be better equipped to handle issues of national security and the threat posed by fundamentalist group Islamic State, only a fraction — 13 percent— said foreign policy and national security are more important issues. Twice as many people believe that creating jobs and the condition of American economy will be more pressing problems for the next president.
Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ national campaign manager, expressed his delight at the Vermont senator’s surge in numbers, but said that the Democratic presidential hopeful will take nothing for granted, according to Boston Globe.
“This poll suggests that our campaign has real momentum and that the American people want to go beyond establishment politics and establishment economics. But it’s just a poll and we take nothing for granted.”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign also released a statement after the poll results were announced, insinuating that Republicans and their super PACs were helping Sanders because they were afraid of facing Clinton in the general elections.
“While Senator Sanders tries to make a case on electability based on meaningless polls, Republicans and their super PACs have made clear the candidate they’re actually afraid to face. The Sanders argument falls apart when the GOP spokesman is trying to help him and the Republicans run ads trying to stop Hillary Clinton in the primary.”
The race is far from done and dusted, of course, but things are appearing to look rosy for Bernie Sanders as we enter the business end of the nomination process.
[Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images]
