CBS/NYT Poll: Hillary Clinton's Lead Over Bernie Sanders Cut By Half

[Purveyor]

Source: CBS NEWS

CBS News September 15, 2015, 6:30 PM

By Anthony Salvanto, Jennifer De Pinto, Sarah Dutton and Fred Backus
The Democratic Race

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to hold a double-digit lead in the Democratic race for the nomination nationally, but Sen. Bernie Sanders is gaining on her. Clinton now has the backing of 47 percent of Democratic primary voters (down from 58 percent), while Sanders comes in second, with 27 percent (up from 17 percent). Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce whether he is running for president, receives support from 15 percent of Democratic primary voters.



More than five months before the start of the primary contests, most Democratic voters say it is too early to say that their minds are made up about which candidate they will support. But Clinton's backers are more firm in their choice than those backing other candidates.

Since last month's CBS News Poll, Clinton has lost ground among a number of demographic groups, while Sanders has made some gains. Clinton maintains a large lead among women and moderates, but those leads have narrowed. Her support among men has dropped considerably and Sanders only trails her by 5 points.

Clinton's advantage with Democratic voters under age 50 has evaporated, and she and Sanders are now even. However, Clinton still has a large lead with older voters. Last month, Clinton was ahead of Sanders by double-digits among liberals, but Sanders now has a 5-point edge with this group.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clintons-lead-over-bernie-sanders-cut-by-half-in-national-poll/

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[uberblonde]

1. Oh, come on.

This is a game they play by adding Joe Biden to the poll. Once he announces he won't run, those voters will revert to Clinton.

Wishful thinking!

[SheilaT]

3. Hillary lost 20 percentage points while

Biden gained all of four percentage points. I sincerely doubt all of the current Biden supporters will return to Hillary.

I do agree he's not going to run and that including him in any polling makes no sense. Although from the MSM's point of view, it keeps the "horse race" aspect alive and well.

[HooptieWagon]

11. I think the DNC...

Is keeping him included in polling to keep their Plan B viable.

[concreteblue]

14. Putting Joe in the polls....

Allows them to say that Bernie is not doing that well. AND it gives them an excuse to talk about something...ANYTHING...else besides Bernie's numbers, policies, and supporters.

[roguevalley]

15. if they choose biden over clinton, that means they don't want her. Nothing in that says

they will go back to her.

[merrily]

23. True. I know there are ABH voters who think Biden may have a better chance of

winning the general than Sanders. The less electible Hillary looks, the more likely they would go to Sanders.

However, IMO, Biden very badly wants to run and what is going on now is a combination of shadow campaigning and checking with donors and super delegates, not soul searching and indecision.

[A Simple Game]

13. Hillary better hope Biden doesn't run, if he runs Hillary will drop out before the first primary.n/t

[Lychee2]

19. Biden will not run if Hillary is still a candidate.

He is the reserve candidate in case she has to drop out. That's why he's postponed his announcement until after Thanksgiving--because by then her October appearance before Gowdy's committee will be over, and the public reaction to that appearance will be well known.

[merrily]

24. I believe Hillary and Obama made a deal in 2008 that went well beyond the deal they announced

If Biden gave his word, too, then he won't run against her. If Biden has never given her his word, he will run if he thinks he can take it.

[Lychee2]

27. This could well be true.

But it seems to me that Biden is a good Party man, and so he will not upset the apple cart as long as Hillary has a sure chance of defeating the Republican candidate. I think he would follow this policy whether he "gave his word" or not.

[merrily]

28. We'll soon know for certain.

[Lychee2]

34. Yes, you're right.

When I see pundits on TV speculating about things like this, I always think, "If they just wait a while, they will know the answer, so what's the point of discussing it?" But now here I am doing the same thing with you. It's pointless, but I see now how it's kinda irresistible.

[merrily]

35. Guess it is.

Lychee2 (99 posts)
19. Biden will not run if Hillary is still a candidate.

[Lychee2]

36. Yep.

Merrily (26,246 posts)
34. "I believe Hillary and Obama made a deal in 2008 that went well beyond the deal they announced."

[merrily]

37. Yep. That was my Reply 24, in response to your prediction in your Reply 19.

[Lychee2]

38. We are both examples of people having fun by predicting the future.

Just like the talking heads on TV. It's a pointless but interesting passtime. We are not at odds with each other about anything, so let's keep it that way.

[merrily]

39. My post was an interpretation of past events, based on several things I've observed.

It was not a prediction of the future.

But, a degree of speculation was involved in each of our posts.

[Lychee2]

40. You are impossible.

I thought we could have a friendly discussion, but that's clearly not what you want. So let's not have a discussion. I'll make sure we never have another one.

[Ken Burch]

16. Why would they?

If they liked HRC, they wouldn't back anybody other than HRC. Another "sense of entitlement" post from another HRC supporter.

[merrily]

22. I think he is likely to run. If he weren't, his answer would be "no" not "I don't know."

[Babel_17]

32. Pretty soft support if they bolt at the mention of Biden

But yeah, I think Secretary Clinton would have some some advantages in wooing them. But there's reasons for their bolting, and Sanders could capitalize on some of them.

[virtualobserver]

2. The debate delay has really hurt O'Malley

[HooptieWagon]

4. It's hurt all the Dems.

Thank you Debbie Downer.

[virtualobserver]

5. True but O'Malley is polling at less than 0.5% in the NYT poll.

that has to hurt

[HooptieWagon]

7. I can't believe he's even less than Webb and Chafee.

[virtualobserver]

8. His new slogan "What a Chafeeling!" might be helping.

[merrily]

29. That is indeed totally nuts. I guess that's the really Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

[brer cat]

6. I agree.

I think he is a great candidate, but without name recognition in a broader area he is just not getting any traction. That could change with the debates, but he gets almost no press coverage so it is hard to get his message out.

[merrily]

25. It's hurt all Dems except Hillary, whom it has helped and whom everything about the debates

was designed to help. Requiring exclusivity, delaying the start until primary registration in NY is over, scheduling one of the debates on the Saturday before Christmas.

[SoapBox]

9. Nationwide...

But as Bernie spends time in different states, his numbers skyrocket.

There was a time where it looked like millions of us would have to hold our nose and vote for Ms. Inevitable.

No longer...we have Bernie...we have excitement, enthusiasm, honesty, integrity, authenticity and real hope & change.

Her party is over.

[Purveyor]

10. The trends are quite comforting, indeed. eom

[daleanime]

12. Remember, this is no time to take it easy....

lots of work to be done until Jan 20, 2017.

When we take a breath and start the real work.

[restorefreedom]

17. "clintons backers are more firm in their choice"

really? then why is she tanking?

they are leaving her in droves, but nice try cbs

[Javaman]

18. That jumped out at me too...

she loses 11 points, yet her backers are firmly behind her?

that doesn't make any sense.

[restorefreedom]

20. sounds like typical m$m spin

their power structure is in serious danger and they know it.

hillary would be friendly to corporate power. bernie will not.

[Javaman]

21. +1 nt

[merrily]

26. Rich people don't want to see Bernie as nominee, let alone as President.

If you call yourself a Democrat, you want to stop him now, actually in 2012, but that's a different story.

[thereismore]

30. This: they are running even among voters under 50. Young voter turnout is the key.

And who is generating enthusiasm among young people?

[DCBob]

31. A 20 point lead is not bad.

I think the Hillary team is pleased with that.

[Babel_17]

33. Extrapolating from that, 2020 would have ...

... worse demographics for HRC, but better for Sanders. Yeah, that's a major extrapolation but we might hear it mentioned if the trend of Sanders increasing his margin with younger voters, at Clinton's expense, continues. Sure, a lot of the youth vote will carry over to HRC if she gets nominated, but would they still be motivated to come out and vote in 2020?

It would be bizarre to have the problem that the GOP is having with demographics becoming visited upon us.