Franklin Pierce/Boston Herald Poll Shows Sanders Leading Clinton in New Hampshire
Aug 12, 2015
FPU/Boston Herald poll results for NH Democratic Primary.
In what many viewed as a surprising development in the Democratic Primary field, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has passed frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the most recent Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll results released late last night by the Boston Herald.
The poll shows Sanders with a 44-37 percent lead over Clinton among likely Democratic New Hampshire primary voters. This is first time the heavily favored Clinton has trailed in the 2016 primary campaign. Vice President Joe Biden, who has not yet declared his candidacy, finished third in the poll with nine percent. Sanders trailed Clinton by a margin of 39 percent (47-8) in the March 2015 poll.
According to the poll, while both Clinton and Sanders both boast high favorability ratings, it is noteworthy that more than one-half of likely Democratic primary voters have a very favorable view toward Bernie Sanders (54%), while most of Clinton’s favorability is less enthusiastic with 45% viewing her as somewhat favorable compared to 36% as very favorable. Further, approximately half (51%) of voters said that they could support Clinton, but they’re not enthusiastic about her candidacy.
If there is good news for Clinton, it is that she is still widely considered to be the likely nominee. Almost two-thirds of likely Democratic primary voters believe that Hillary Clinton (65%) will win the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, followed by Bernie Sanders (11%) and Joe Biden (7%). Additionally, more than half of the voters surveyed (60%) indicated that they might change their minds prior to the elections.
The poll was conducted August 7-10, 2015, by Kelly Myers, president of RKM Communication and a Fellow at the university’s Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communications. The survey is based on a sample of 442 likely Democratic presidential primary voters in New Hampshire. The margin of error is +/- 4.7 percent.
