Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) retains a clear lead over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, garnering 49 percent support to Clinton’s 43 percent, according to an American Research Group poll released Tuesday.
The new poll showed a wider gulf between overall support for the two Democratic presidential candidates than in an ARG survey conducted earlier this month in the state, which showed Sanders beating Clinton 47 percent to 44 percent. Taken together with the December ARG poll, in which Clinton led Sanders 46 percent to 43 percent, it suggests a surge in support for Sanders. This result is consistent with many other polls of New Hampshire Democrats that showed Sanders approaching, and in some cases surpassing, 50 percent support as Clinton fell behind.
Support for former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was at 3 percent, unchanged from the previous two polls.
The ARG telephone poll surveyed 600 Democratic or independent voters from Jan. 15-18. It had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
