For all of their progressive image, San Francisco Democrats do not appear to be feeling “the Bern” — with Hillary Clinton besting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 54 percent to 42 percent among likely primary voters, according to a new poll making the rounds.

Clinton is up 15 points on Sanders on the more moderate west side, 55 percent to 40 percent, according to the poll. But even on the very liberal east side of town, the former secretary of state has a 53 percent to 43 percent advantage.

The Web poll of 664 likely Democratic primary voters in the city was conducted by EMC Research of Oakland from March 2 through March 8 — the date of Sanders’ big upset win over Clinton in the Michigan primary. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.

The poll was commissioned by an unnamed “moderate political committee” that was testing the strength of various politicians’ endorsements for candidates running in the June battle royal over control of the Democratic County Central Committee.

Coming in first in the popularity parade was Sen. and former Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who clocked in with a 75 percent approval rating among fellow Democrats. She was followed closely by Lt. Gov. and former Mayor Gavin Newsom, with a 72 percent approval rating.

Former Mayor Art Agnos, who has resurrected his political career thanks to several development fights, came in with a 40 percent approval rating. Ex-Mayor and current Chronicle columnist Willie Brown came in at 36 percent, as did Mayor Ed Lee and newly returned Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

As usual, the firefighters scored the highest among public employee unions, with a whopping 79 percent approval rating. The cops, on the other hand, were well down the list, with the Police Officers Association scoring a 36 percent rating.

Blood alley: The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is bracing for an embarrassing news conference Tuesday, when attorney Michael Haddad is expected to roll out a civil rights lawsuit over two deputies’ baton beating of a man in a San Francisco alley.

A viral video of the Nov. 12 incident shows 29-year-old Stanislav Petrov on his knees and then on the ground as Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputies Luis Santamaria and Paul Weiber pummel him with their batons. Petrov had led deputies on a 38-minute chase from San Leandro after ramming two patrol cruisers in a stolen car, the Sheriff’s Office said. He ended up at Clinton Park and Stevenson Street in the Mission District, where Santamaria and Weiber caught up to him at 2:05 a.m.

The deputies, who are on paid leave, said in their incident reports that Petrov had resisted, and that they believed he threatened their safety. The San Francisco district attorney’s office and police are conducting a criminal investigation of the deputies.

Petrov ended up in the hospital with broken bones and head cuts. Haddad said the suit will claim both excessive use of force by the deputies and a coverup by the the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

“Department policy states that the deputies were supposed to have filed reports by the end of their shift,” Haddad said. “Instead, they filed their reports four days after the incident and after having viewed the video.”

Adding to the mix: Neither Weiber, Santamaria nor the other nine deputies on the scene had their body cameras turned on. The viral video came from a security camera.

“We are going to get scorched, and we deserve it,” said one source inside the Sheriff’s Office, who asked not to be named because of the pending litigation.

Meanwhile, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi is questioning San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón’s handling of the case.

“It’s been 120 days and counting,” Adachi said. “If this were you or me, we would have been in jail weeks ago.”

The deputies, he said, “are being afforded a professional courtesy. If it’s law enforcement, the district attorney is not going to act.”

A spokesman for Gascón said prosecutors would not comment because the case is still under investigation.

Haddad was more sympathetic to the district attorney, saying it’s never easy to put cops on trial. “You better have all your ducks in a row,” he said.

A civil rights suit, on the other hand, has a lower standard of proof — where even a video with 10-second gaps throughout could win the day with a jury.

Back to Gallery Clinton burns Sanders in poll of SF’s Democrats 2 1 of 2 Photo: Courtesy Building REsources/San Francisco 2 of 2 Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle



50 reasons: If you missed out on a Super Bowl 50 souvenir, you’ve still got a shot at snagging that 12-foot-tall, gold “50” sculpture that served as a backdrop for countless fan selfies at San Francisco’s Super Bowl City.

Building REsources, a nonprofit material recycling outfit in the Bayview, was given the plywood- and-gold-laminate sculpture by the NFL and Super Bowl host committee in return for lugging it away. It has put it up for sale.

“It takes a whole giant moving truck to move it,” said Ed Dunn, executive director of Building REsources.

Dunn hasn’t put a price tag on what he concedes is “kind of a weird item” — but he’s confident he’ll find a buyer.

“I could see somebody getting it as a gag gift for a 50th birthday,’’ he said. “Or I could see someone bringing it up to Burning Man and setting fire to it.”

To which we say: “Just burn, baby, burn.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross