Hillary Clinton maintains a strong national lead among Democrats even though Bernie Sanders is gaining on her in New Hampshire, a new poll finds.
Clinton holds the support of 59 percent of Democratic voters to Sanders’ 26 percent, according to a Monmouth poll released Wednesday. These numbers remain virtually unchanged from October, when Clinton held 57 percent of the vote after the first Democratic debate and Sanders held 24 percent.
Since that October debate, Clinton testified in front of the Benghazi Select Committee, won multiple high-profile congressional and union endorsements and has emphasized her background as secretary of state in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.
Sanders currently leads Clinton in New Hampshire 48-43 percent, but it is the only early state where he is ahead.
“Clinton successfully ran the gauntlet this fall, appearing before the Benghazi Committee and outlasting the specter of a Biden candidacy. She really hasn’t lost ground since then,” Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray said.
Four in five democrats say that they would be either “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” with Clinton as their nominee, with only 5 percent saying that this would upset them. Although most Sanders supporters appear to choose the democratic socialist candidate for his ideological differences with Clinton, 59 percent of his supporters said that would be fine if Clinton ultimately won the nomination and the presidency.
More than 70 percent of Democratic voters view Clinton favorably to just 13 percent unfavorably. Nearly 60 percent view Sanders facvorably to 16 percent unfavorably.
Underdog candidate Martin O’Malley came in with 4 percent of the vote, up from 1 percent in October. But when voters were asked their opinion of the former Maryland governor, 63 percent did not know who he was or had “no opinion” of him.
The top issues for Democratic voters were the economy (27 percent), terrorism (20 percent) and education (15 percent). Although Clinton and O’Malley spend much time discussing gun control, social issues and immigration on the campaign trail, these issues ranked of relatively low importance with 9 percent, 6 percent and 2 percent choosing them as their top priority, in that order.
Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley will face off for a third time on the Democratic debate stage on Saturday at Saint Anslem’s College in New Hampshire.
