A new poll says Hillary Clinton has a 9-point national lead over Bernie Sanders heading into Tuesday’s primary in Wisconsin, even though Clinton could lose to Sanders in that state.
Nationwide, Clinton has 51 percent of the vote among Democrats, up 2 points over the last week, compared to Sanders’ 1 point drop to 42 percent, according to the latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey weekly election tracking poll.
Among independents who lean Democratic, Sanders bests Clinton by more than 20 points, which may give the Vermont senator the advantage in Wisconsin’s open primary. But among those who identify as solid Democrats, Clinton beats Sanders, 56 percent to 37 percent.
In the 2008 Democratic primary, 28 percent of Wisconsin primary voters identified as independent, while 62 percent identified as Democratic, NBC exit polls showed.
The online poll of 14,071 adults aged 18 and over, including 12,116 who say they are registered to vote, was conducted March 28-April 3 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
In Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary, 86 delegates are up for grabs. Clinton has 1,243 pledged delegates to Sanders’ 980, although Sanders has won five of the last six states.
