Bernie Sanders now holds a seven-point lead over Hillary Clinton among New Hampshire voters, according to a new Monmouth poll.
The once inevitable front-runner now only is supported by 36 percent of likely voters in the nation’s first primary state, whereas Sanders is supported by 43 percent. The self described democratic socialist also holds a lead over Clinton among women (42-38 percent) and men (44-34 percent) in the New Hampshire primary, and also has a significant advantage among voters under 50 (46-35 percent).
While Clinton has a small lead over Sanders among registered Democrats (49-35 percent), Sanders is by far the favorite among independents and new voters (49-26 percent). Sanders first surpassed Clinton in New Hampshire earlier this summer, but this is his largest lead so far in the early primary state.
“Sanders has certainly cut into Clinton’s core constituencies, but his ultimate success may ride on how many new voters he can get to the polls,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, N.J. “Either way, it looks like most Democratic voters will be able to live with however this nomination contest turns out.”
Joe Biden, who has yet to announce whether he is running in 2016, came in third in the poll with 13 percent, followed by Martin O’Malley with 2 percent as well as Jim Webb, Larry Lessig and Lincoln Chafee, each with 1 percent.
