The Slatest

Sanders Surges Past Clinton in New Hampshire, Closes Gap in Iowa

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders greets nurses as he arrives at a campaign rally at the National Nurses United offices on Aug. 10, 2015 in Oakland, California.  

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders is getting a big payoff from his efforts to try to woo disenchanted progressive Democrats, bounding past Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire by nine points, according to the latest NBC News/Marist poll. Support in the state for the independent senator has surged to 41 percent of Democratic voters, compared to Clinton’s 32 percent. And the numbers are even worse for Clinton when the Biden effect is taken into consideration. Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce his candidacy, has 16 percent support in New Hampshire. If his candidacy is removed from the options presented to Democratic voters, Sanders’ lead grows to 11 points—49 percent to 38 percent. The numbers show Clinton and Sanders have basically flipped positions from July, when the NBC/Marist poll put the former secretary of state ahead by 10 points with 42 percent.

In Iowa, Clinton remains on top, but her lead has been narrowed sharply, dropping from a 24-point margin in July to an 11-point advantage. In the new poll, she pulled 38 percent support, compared to 27 percent for Sanders.  

Despite the tightening polls, the Democratic contest continues to be a rather diplomatic affair, with both Clinton and Sanders basically refusing to criticize each other on the campaign trail, points out the Washington Post.

On the Republican side, the NBC/Marist poll shows how the GOP contest in Iowa has become a race between Donald Trump and Ben Carson, with the rest of the candidates basically falling into oblivion. Trump leads in Iowa with 29 percent compared to Carson’s 22 percent. Jeb Bush, meanwhile, enjoys a measly 6 percent support, and all the other candidates have 5 percent or less. That is quite the change in fortune for Scott Walker, who enjoyed 19 percent support in July, and now is only backed by 5 percent of the state’s Republican voters. In New Hampshire, Trump is also ahead with 28 percent, followed by John Kasich at 12 percent, Carson at 11 percent, and Bush at 8 percent.

Read more of Slate’s coverage of the 2016 campaign.