Bernie Sanders has jumped out to a 9-point lead over front-runner Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, and he’s gained ground on her in Iowa in the Democratic presidential race, according to a pair of brand-new NBC News/Marist polls.
In New Hampshire, Sanders gets the support of 41% of Democratic voters, Clinton gets 32% and Vice President Joe Biden gets 16%. No other Democratic candidate receives more than 1%.
Back in July’s NBC/Marist poll, Clinton was ahead of Sanders in the Granite State by 10 points, 42% to 32%, with Biden at 12%.
Without Biden in the race, Sanders’ lead over Clinton in the current survey increases to 11 points, 49% to 38%.
In Iowa, Clinton maintains her previous advantage over Sanders – but her lead has declined from 24 points in July (49% to 25%) to 11 points (38% to 27%); Biden sits at 20%.
Trump ahead in both Iowa and New HampshireMeanwhile, in the Republican presidential race, Donald Trump now holds a 7-point lead in Iowa and a 16-point one in New Hampshire.
In the Hawkeye State, Trump gets the support from 29% of potential GOP caucus-goers, while Ben Carson receives 22%. There’s a steep drop off after that: Jeb Bush gets 6%; Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul and Scott Walker get 5%; and Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal are at 4%.
In July, Walker was ahead of the Iowa Republican field at 19%, Trump was second at 17% and Bush was third at 12%.
In the Granite State, Trump is at 28% – followed by John Kasich at 12%, Carson at 11%, Bush at 8% and Fiorina at 6%; Walker is down to 4%.
Back in July, the Top 3 in New Hampshire were Trump (at 21%), Bush (at 14%) and Walker (at 12%).
Biden is more popular than Clinton is – among Democrats and all votersAmid speculation that Biden might enter the 2016 presidential race, the NBC/Marist polls find that the vice president is more popular than Clinton is – among both Democrats and the general electorate.
And they show that he matches up better in general-election contests than Clinton does.
In Iowa, she holds a 67%/27% favorable/unfavorable score among Democrats, and just a 32%/61% score among all registered voters.
By comparison, Biden’s numbers among Democrats are 74%/17%, and among registered voters they’re 42%/44%.
In New Hampshire, Clinton holds a 69%/27% fav/unfav score among Democrats, and it’s 36%/60% among all registered voters.
In contrast, Biden’s numbers among Granite State Democrats are 76%/17%, and among registered voters they’re 46%/43%.
And in hypothetical general-election contests, the NBC/Marist polls find that Jeb Bush and Donald Trump both beat Clinton in Iowa:
- Bush 50%, Clinton 39%
- Trump 48%, Clinton 43%.
But Biden performs better:
- Bush 46%, Biden 44%
- Biden 49%, Trump 45%
In New Hampshire, the general-election numbers are:
- Bush 48%, Clinton 43%
- Clinton 46%, Trump 45%
- Bush 46%, Biden 45%
- Biden 50%, Trump 41%.
The NBC/Marist poll of Iowa was conducted Aug. 26-Sept. 2 of 998 registered voters (margin of error +/- 3.1 percentage points), 390 potential GOP caucus-goers (+/- 5.0) and 345 potential Democratic caucus-goers (+/- 5.3).
The NBC/Marist poll of New Hampshire was conducted Aug. 26-Sept. 2 of 966 registered voters (+/- 3.2%), 413 potential GOP primary voters (+/- 4.8) and 356 potential Democratic primary voters (+/- 5.2).