The first debate of the 2016 presidential election season is now a week and a half gone, and a new national poll has been released. Donald Trump is still shockingly on top of the Republican Party by a large margin, and Hillary Clinton is sitting at the top of the Democratic race. The campaign for Clinton appears to be getting nervous though as Bernie Sanders is gaining.

Many wondered if Trump would be able to keep his almost insurmountable lead after the first debate, and he has. Ben Carson surprisingly moved up into second in the Fox News national poll, but Trump still has doubled his support percentage.

Over on the Democratic side of things, many thought that Hillary Clinton would be able to keep a good lead and work her way right into the nomination for the big race. Well, that may not be as secure as once thought.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been drawing some huge crowds in recent weeks, and he’s gaining on Clinton.

Now, that may end up changing as well since the entire situation with an apology letter being sent to Black Lives Matter activists, but not by him. The Huffington Post reported that he feels an apology isn’t even necessary for how long it took his campaign to reach out to them.

“Well, that was sent out by a staffer, not by me. Look, we are reaching out to all kinds of groups, absolutely… But on this issue of Black Lives Matter, let me be very clear. The issue that they are raising is a very, very important issue. And there is no candidate for president who would be stronger in fighting against institutional racism, and by the way, reforming a broken criminal justice system.”

On an interesting note, Hillary Clinton has dropped below 50 percent in the polls for the first time so far, but she does still lead among Democratic primary voters by 19 points (49-30), but Sanders is gaining.

Just two weeks ago, Clinton led by 29 points and a month ago, she had a 40-point lead at 59-19 percent, but it continues to drop.

Vice President Joe Biden still has the support of 10 percent of voters, but he has not even declared his intention to run. All other Democratic candidates sit with one percent or less of support.

Donald Trump still leads, as does Hillary Clinton in the latest 2016 presidential polls, but competition seems to be sneaking up on them. There is a lot of time left to go and Bernie Sanders could see his popularity and support continue to rise as he challenges Clinton for the nomination.

[Image via Getty Images]