Hillary Clinton may be the frontrunner to secure the Democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential election. However, new research shows that Clinton is drastically underperforming compared to this stage at her run for the White House in 2008.

According to Breitbart, Hillary Clinton has received 270,000 fewer votes during her 2016 presidential run than she had in the same period during her unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Clinton is still on course to secure the Democratic nomination. However, these new figures only fuel the fact that she should have wrapped the race up by now if she stands any chance of beating the Republican nominee later this year.

That being said, as reported by the Daily Mail, Hillary Clinton is still beating Donald Trump in terms of the numbers. Whilst she may have seen an overall dip in her numbers on the Democratic side of the race, the former Secretary of State has amassed around 2 million more votes than the Republican frontrunner. With Trump undeniably on course to secure the Republican nomination this summer, Hillary Clinton will be pleased that she still has a lead over the eccentric candidate, as it becomes increasingly likely that the 2016 presidential election will boil down to Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton's Likely Rival; Donald Trump [Photo by Ramin Talaie/Getty Images]

Hillary Clinton’s drop in numbers is largely predicted to come as a result of the success of Bernie Sanders. Sanders has been able to steal away support from states that would typically have voted for Hillary Clinton if he hadn’t entered the race. Clinton has seen the biggest drop in voter numbers in Sanders’ home state of Vermont, where she received a mere 18,338 votes compared to the 59,806 votes awarded to the candidate in 2008. It’s those numbers that suggest why Hillary Clinton lost the state on Super Tuesday with just 13.6 percent of the vote in Vermont.

The new research doesn’t provide all bad news for Hillary Clinton, however. In 2016, she’s seen an incredible increase in support in South Carolina, a state which she lost to Barack Obama in 2008, largely integral to his securing of the nomination. Clinton picked up 93.19% of the vote in the state earlier this year, which is a considerable increase over her performance in 2008. Her success in South Carolina and other similar states has largely been credited to her ability to win back the black vote now that Barack Obama isn’t in the race. That’s also coupled with the fact that Senator Bernie Sanders hasn’t proven particularly popular with black voters.

Hillary Clinton looks likely to make it back to the White House https://t.co/XZIljqCVQJ pic.twitter.com/2p3XmYGQCI — The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 1, 2016

With the big picture taken into consideration, it’s very hard to deny that Hillary Clinton is poised to pick up the Democratic nomination. However, many within the Clinton camp have expressed concern that the candidate should have easily picked up the nomination by now. Whilst holding a slim chance of actually stealing the nomination from Clinton, Bernie Sanders is clinging on to his presidential bid, which is draining resources and time from Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton’s fortunes now depend on who she’ll be facing in the general election later this year. The likely candidate on the Republican side is Donald Trump, and as aforementioned, Clinton’s numbers still give her a 2 million vote lead over Donald Trump, meaning that in theory, she should be able to make it to the White House with ease later this year. That being said, the fact that Hillary Clinton is lagging behind her own record from 2008, a primary campaign that she inevitably lost, there is still a good deal of concern in the Clinton camp. These newly released figures only fuel what has so far been an incredibly different presidential election process, a process that traditionally, a candidate like Hillary Clinton would have walked away with.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]