AP Photo Poll: Sanders tops Clinton again in New Hampshire

Bernie Sanders leads Hillary Clinton by 7 points in New Hampshire, according to the results of the latest Monmouth University survey released Tuesday morning, continuing the Vermont senator's surge in the first primary state.

Among those likely to vote in next February's Democratic primary, 43 percent pledged their support to the independent senator from Vermont, while the former secretary of state earned 36 percent. Vice President Joe Biden, who has been publicly mulling a bid for the White House, finished in third place with 13 percent. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley came in with 2 percent, followed by former Rhode Island Gov. and Sen. Lincoln Chafee, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig at one percent each, while 3 percent said they were undecided.


Sanders earned the best favorability numbers of the bunch, at 83 percent to 7 percent, followed by Biden at 80 percent to 7 percent. Clinton came in third with a net positive rating of 60 points, at 77 percent to 17 percent. Majorities of voters had no opinion about the other candidates in the race.

Among those with a first choice, just 19 percent said they would be very unhappy if their chosen candidate did not win the nomination, while 23 percent said they would be a little unhappy and 50 percent would be OK with whoever is the eventual nominee. But passion seems to run slightly higher among supporters of Sanders. Among his likely voters, 44 percent said they would be OK with someone other than the senator, but among Clinton and Biden backers, 51 percent and 62 percent said the same, respectively. Nearly three-in-10 Sanders backers (29 percent) said they would be a little unhappy with someone other than their candidate, while 21 percent said the same for Clinton and 12 percent for Biden. (The margin of error for this question was plus or minus 5 percentage points, slightly higher than the overall margin.)

Asked whether they thought there were enough debates--a point of contention in the campaigns of several Democrats, including Sanders and O'Malley--43 percent of voters said they thought the four scheduled debates were sufficient, while 36 percent said there are not enough. At the same time, 41 percent said Clinton is not trying to avoid having more debates, compared to just 23 percent who think she is.

Unlike their Republican counterparts, likely Democratic primary voters have more support for a candidate with experience inside Washington, D.C. In the latest poll, 62 percent said they would prefer someone with government experience while 23 percent would prefer a political outsider. In the Monmouth survey of Republican voters in New Hampshire released Monday, 68 percent expressed support for someone from outside the political arena, while just 23 percent wanted someone who had government experience.

Monmouth conducted the poll from Sept. 10-13, surveying 400 likely Democratic primary voters in the state. The results carry a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.