Bernie Sanders dominates the latest poll of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters, 12 points ahead of his closest competitor with just three weeks until the state’s presidential nominating contest.
The Vermont senator got 29% support in a WBUR poll released Friday, a 15-point jump from a December WBUR New Hampshire poll. Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was in second place with 17%, down 1 percentage point since he led with 18% in December.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was nearly tied with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, with the two candidates receiving 14% and 13%, respectively. That is a 3-point decline for Biden compared to the December poll, while Warren increased her standing by 1 point.
The poll surveyed 426 likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters from Jan. 17-19 through phone interviews and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.
While Sanders commands a large lead in the poll, it is an outlier compared to other surveys testing the waters in the first-in-the-nation primary state. A Boston Globe/Suffolk poll released earlier this week found he led by just one point, and the RealClearPolitics average of New Hampshire primary polls finds he has 21.6% support while Biden is at 17.6%, Buttigieg is at 14.8%, and Warren sits at 14%.
“I wouldn’t take these numbers to the bank,” said Steve Koczela, president of MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the poll. “But you’ve got to be feeling pretty good about where you stand right at this moment if you’re the Sanders campaign.”
Thursday’s WBUR poll finds Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar in a distant fifth place with 6%, and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and entrepreneur Andrew Yang are tied at 5%.
The Senate trial for President Trump’s impeachment has complicated the campaign schedule for the senators in the race, causing Klobuchar, Warren, and Sanders to deploy creative campaign tactics and lean on family members and endorsements more than usual.
