Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Poll: 51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college MORE has increased her lead nationally over Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Bernie Sanders warns of 'nightmare scenario' if Trump refuses election results Harris joins women's voter mobilization event also featuring Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda MORE (I-Vt.), according to a new poll conducted in the days after the first Democratic presidential debate.



According to a Monmouth University survey released on Monday, Clinton takes 48 percent support, a six-point jump over her standing in the same poll from last month.



ADVERTISEMENT

Sanders is in second place with 21 percent support, essentially unchanged from his 20 percent standing last month.

Vice President Biden, meanwhile, has seen his support fall from 22 percent last month to 17 percent in the latest poll. Biden is nearing a decision on whether he’ll run and did not participate in the Oct. 13 debate.



If Biden does not run for president, a majority of his supporters would gravitate toward Clinton, giving her a formidable lead. Clinton would lead Sanders 57 percent to 24 percent with Biden on the sidelines, the poll found.



If Biden does run for president, the poll found he would surpass Sanders to take second place. In addition to the 17 percent support Biden currently receives, an additional 10 percent said they’d be very likely to switch their vote to the vice president if he runs. Thirty-one percent said they’d be somewhat likely to do so.



If Biden were officially in, Monmouth found that Clinton’s support would drop to 42 percent but that she would maintain a double-digit lead nationally, with Biden taking 27 percent support and Sanders taking 20.



“The specter of a Biden candidacy still hangs over this race, but Clinton can take comfort that she has appeared to win back some support with a solid debate performance,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.



All of the top candidates are viewed positively by Democrats.



Biden has the best favorability rating of the group, with 73 percent of Democrats holding a favorable view of him, against only 9 percent who view him negatively.



Seventy-seven percent of Democrats view Clinton favorably, against 18 percent who view her negatively.



And there is evidence that Sanders is now benefitting from wider name recognition. Last month, only 41 percent viewed Sanders favorably, against 14 percent who viewed him negatively. This month, 60 percent said they view him favorably, against 11 percent negatively.



The number of those who said they have no opinion on Sanders dropped from 45 percent last month to 28 percent presently.



The three other candidates who were on the debate stage, former Mayrland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, did not see any movement in the poll. All received 1 percent support or less in the survey.



The Monmouth University poll of 340 registered voters was conducted between Oct. 15 and Oct. 18 and has a 5.3 percentage point margin of error.