Heidi M. Przybyla

USA TODAY

Bernie Sanders has an 8.6-point lead over Hillary Clinton in the latest Suffolk University poll.

The numbers indicate a tighter race than a recent CNN/WMUR poll that gave Sanders a 27% lead over Clinton and reflect the sentiment of New Hampshire voters indicating they are "very likely" to vote in the Democratic primary.

The poll, conducted after the latest Democratic debate in South Carolina, also demonstrates the crossover appeal of two Republican candidates, with about 6% of likely Democratic voters saying they would be motivated to vote in the Republican primary instead of the Democratic one if either Donald Trump or Ohio Gov. John Kasich were on the ballot.

Clinton has been hammering Sanders on a few specific issues in an effort to draw distinctions and peel away some of his support. One of them is his record on guns, including granting gun manufacturers legal immunity, and the poll shows more of the party's voters identify with her, at 44%, than with Sanders, who has 30% support.

Still, her attacks on his health care plan to create Medicare for all haven't given her the advantage on health care. Sanders has a narrow 2-point advantage over Clinton. And on the critical issue of trust, Sanders has nearly a 15-point advantage over the former first lady. Even so, 60% think Clinton has the best chance of winning the general election. Just 27% say that about Sanders.

Similar to polls over the past several months, a sizable majority of Democrats, 71%, say they are not bothered by her use of a private email server while she was secretary of State.

Another 65.8% said they do not plan to see the newly released movie critical of Clinton's role in the attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya, titled 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

The poll, conducted Jan. 19-21, had a 4.4-point margin of error.

USA TODAY's 2016 Presidential Poll Tracker