Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to hold a commanding lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the Democratic presidential nominating race, according to a national poll released Thursday by Public Policy Polling.
The PPP poll showed Clinton with 53 percent support to Sanders’ 32 percent in the wake of her razor-thin victory in Iowa. These results represent a small decrease from the December version of the poll, which showed Clinton leading Sanders 56 percent to 28 percent.
The difference could be attributed to a tightening race. It could also be attributed to the redistribution of supporters of former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) after the third-place candidate, who had an unusually strong showing of 9 percent in the December poll, dropped out of the running. In any case it’s consistent with most polling, which shows Clinton retaining a comfortable national lead even as she faces an uphill battle against Sanders in New Hampshire.
The PPP poll was carried out from Feb. 2-3. Pollsters surveyed 517 likely Democratic voters by live telephone interviews and internet surveys, with a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.
