Celebrity

Bernie Sanders Polls Ahead of Hillary Clinton for the First Time

Published on August 12, 2015 02:20 PM

Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty; Uri Schanker/WireImage

For the first time, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has a lead on Hillary Clinton, albeit just for one poll and just in New Hampshire.

The Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll, released Tuesday, shows Sanders edging ahead of the former Secretary of State by a sizable margin, 44 percent to 37 percent – marking the first time Clinton has trailed any candidate in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary campaign, the Boston Herald reports.

In past Granite State polls, Clinton, 67, maintained a narrow yet comfortable lead.

While Sanders, 73, is on top in the key early primary state of New Hampshire, Clinton still enjoys more than double Sanders’ support in national polls. However, voters are starting to question her honesty, CNN reports. Clinton is in the midst of an email controversy regarding classified information that could have been compromised because of her use of a private email account while Secretary of State. On Tuesday, she asked her attorney to turn over her private email server and a flash drive to the Justice Department. The data contained work-related emails she sent during her time as Secretary of State.

Sanders rise is significant. In a poll in March he was behind Clinton by an 8-47 margin.

Vice President Joe Biden, who is reportedly weighing a White House run, would begin with a 9 percent base in New Hampshire.

The other candidates – former Maryland Gov. Martin O Malley, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb – each have 1 percent support, or less.

The poll, which was conducted August 7-10, surveyed 442 likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

New Hampshire is an important state in the presidential race because it’s the first primary (Iowa, which is usually a week before, has a caucus), it’s widely watched, and it tends to set expectations for the candidates moving forward.