Elections

Feel The Bern: New Poll Puts Sanders Over Clinton In New Hampshire

Derek Hunter Contributor
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He’s been nipping at her heels for some time, but a new poll has Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders overtaking Hillary Clinton in the all-important state of New Hampshire for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

The poll of 442 likely Democratic voters found Sanders leading Clinton 44 to 37, well outside the margin of error of +/- 4.7 percent.

Conducted by Franklin Pierce University and the Boston Herald, 9 percent of New Hampshire Democratic voters support a theoretical run by Vice President Joe Biden. The rest of the Democratic field – former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee – “barely registered at 1 percent of below.”

This is the first poll to show Sanders pulling ahead of Clinton in any early primary state.

Clinton suffers from an enthusiasm deficit with only 35 percent of Democrats “excited” by her campaign.

In March, Franklin Pierce and the Herald conducted a similar poll and found Clinton easily beating Sanders by a margin of 44 to 8. Since then, Clinton has suffered a series of scandals regarding donations to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation and an FBI investigation into her emails on her private server.

The poll was conducted between Aug. 7 and 10 via live phone interview.