Bernie Sanders is also seen favorably by nine-in-10 voters overall, with just 6 percent of likely voters holding an unfavorable view of him. Poll: Sanders leads Clinton by 14 in New Hampshire

Bernie Sanders has soared to a 14-point lead over Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire, leading the former secretary of state in virtually every voting bloc, according to the results of the latest Monmouth University poll, released Tuesday.

The Vermont senator earned 53 percent to Clinton’s 39 percent, an increase of 8 points for Sanders since Monmouth’s November poll and a decrease of 9 points for Clinton. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley earned 5 percent, with 2 percent saying they are undecided. In November, Clinton led 48 percent to 45 percent.


The results are largely in line with the margin suggested by a Fox News poll from New Hampshire released last Friday, in which Sanders led with 50 percent and Clinton earned 37 percent.

Sanders now leads Clinton among women and those 50 and older, two groups from which Clinton drew support in past polls. Among women, Sanders leads 50 percent to 44 percent, compared with two months ago, when he trailed Clinton by 19 points (37 percent to 56 percent). He leads among voters 50 and older by the same margin after trailing Clinton by 18 points in November in that demographic (38 percent to 56 percent).

And among those who say they are not supporting Sanders right now, 20 percent said they could vote for him instead of their current choice, while 21 percent of current non-Clinton supporters said the same of her.

Roughly half — 52 percent — of those surveyed said they were completely decided on the candidate they will support on Feb. 9, while 32 percent indicated a strong preference, 8 percent said they had a slight preference and 8 percent said they were undecided. Sanders voters are more likely to say they are decided on their candidate than Clinton supporters, with 55 percent of those backing the Vermont senator responding that they have their choice firmly in hand. For Clinton, 49 percent said they are completely decided.

“New Hampshire Democratic preferences are getting baked in, with Sanders gaining the upper hand. The final question will be who does a better job at turning out their respective voting blocs,” said Monmouth polling director Patrick Murray in a statement.

Sanders is also seen favorably by nine in 10 voters overall, with just 6 percent of likely voters holding an unfavorable view of him. For Clinton, 73 percent have a favorable opinion of the former secretary of state, a slight decrease from past months’ polls, and 19 percent have an unfavorable opinion, a slight increase.

Regardless of whom they support, likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire also suggested that they would be more enthusiastic about Sanders as their party’s nominee than with Clinton.

Nearly half — 48 percent — said they would feel enthusiastic if Sanders accepted the party’s nomination this summer in Philadelphia, while 42 percent said they would be satisfied, 6 percent said they would be dissatisfied and just 2 percent said they would be upset. Meanwhile, just 36 percent said they would be enthusiastic if Clinton became the nominee, while 38 percent said they would be satisfied, 18 percent said they would be dissatisfied and 7 percent said they would be upset.

Asked about the effect they thought Bill Clinton campaigning on behalf of his wife would have on the race, 50 percent said it would help her, just 12 percent said it would hurt her, and 32 percent said it would have little impact.

The poll was conducted via landlines and cellphones from Jan. 7-10, surveying 413 New Hampshire voters drawn from a list of registered Democrats and independents who participated in a primary election in the 2012 and 2014 cycles or voted in both general elections and indicated that they would vote in the Democratic primary. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

Clinton’s campaign has appeared to temper its expectations for the first-in-the-nation primary in recent days.

“New Hampshire’s a little bit of a different story. It’s Bernie’s next-door-neighbor state,” Clinton campaign manager John Podesta told MSNBC on Monday. “He’s doing well there; he’s probably a little bit ahead of us. But we intend to compete and win in both of those states. So we’re feeling good about it. But we always knew that this race would tighten up and that we would have to fight for every vote.”

