It’s a coin flip in the Iowa Democratic Caucus between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Not so much in New Hampshire.
A new University of Massachusetts Lowell survey of likely Granite State voters has found that Sanders is lapping Clinton with a 61 to 30 percent advantage. The Vermont senator’s lead has widened there in recent weeks, but the 31-point spread there is his most favorable result yet. A CNN/WMUR poll from a couple of weeks ago showed Sanders ahead 60 to 33.
“Bernie Sanders has an opportunity to take a commanding lead in the nomination if he is able to win Iowa and then move to New Hampshire where he has built a seemingly insurmountable lead,” a release accompanying the poll states.
The same survey shows Donald Trump in total command in New Hampshire, with a 26-point lead over a pack of candidates vying to be the runner-up. Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Chris Christie all grab between 7 and 12 percent of the vote, while Trump is far ahead with 38 percent. The results mirror other recent polls that have Trump as the obvious frontrunner with a group of several hopefuls jousting for second place.
Echoing the conventional wisdom that this is a year for outsiders, the UMass Lowell pollsters discovered that distrust of the government is fueling the success of Sanders and Trump in the state.
