Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has seen his nationwide poll numbers climb over the last two weeks against Hillary Clinton, eight years after then-Sen. Barack Obama started a surge against Clinton that ultimately led to him winning the nomination.
Sanders had been hovering at the 30 percent mark for some time in the last few days of 2015, but began to lift off at the start of 2016, and had 35.5 percent support as of Jan. 11, according to a RealClearPolitics average of national polls.
In that same time, Clinton’s number fell from about 55 percent to 48.3 percent.
Eight years ago, flipping the calendar from 2007 to 2008 seemed to benefit Obama, who was suddenly able to start gaining on Clinton. In the last week of 2007, Clinton led Obama roughly 44-25.
But by Jan. 11 of 2008, Obama had jumped up significantly, and trailed her 39-34. By mid-February, Obama took the lead from Clinton for good.
Clinton’s numbers are purple and Obama’s are green in this 2007-08 graph.
So far at least, Sanders’ New Year’s surge is falling short of Obama’s. As of Jan. 11, he still trails Clinton by about 13 points, whereas Obama closed the gap to just five in the first 11 days of the year.
