Bernie Sanders also holds big advantages in the new poll over Hillary Clinton among voters under age 30. | AP Photo Poll: Sanders leads Clinton by 20 points in N.H. after Iowa

Bernie Sanders maintains a 20-point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, according to the first poll there since Clinton and Sanders ran neck-and-neck in this week’s Iowa caucuses.

The new poll, conducted by Marist College for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, shows Sanders well in front of Clinton, 58 percent to 38 percent, among likely voters in next week’s first-in-the-nation Democratic primary.


There’s little evidence in the new survey that either candidate emerged immediately from their virtual tie in Iowa with significant momentum in New Hampshire: The new result is basically unchanged from Sanders’ 19-point lead in the previous NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, conducted in mid-January.

Sanders holds big advantages in the new poll over Clinton among voters under age 30 (76 percent to 24 percent), men (70 percent to 25 percent) and liberal voters (62 percent to 34 percent).

But the Vermont senator also holds his own among Clinton’s core constituencies: He actually leads her among female voters (50 percent to 46 percent) and self-identified moderates (52 percent to 44 percent).

Age is still the most significant divide in the primary, according to the poll. Sanders’ wide lead among female voters under age 45 (64 percent to 35 percent) is what allows him to carry the female cohort as a whole. The only age group among which Clinton leads is voters 60 and older: 51 percent to 44 percent.

Only 4 percent of likely voters chose either another candidate or said they were undecided in the horse-race question, and it appears Democratic voters are locking in. Among likely voters who picked a candidate, nearly 80 percent said they “strongly support” that candidate. Only 15 percent said they “somewhat support” their candidate, and just 6 percent conceded they might vote differently on Election Day.

Moreover, there was little difference in intensity between supporters of the two candidates, the poll showed.

The poll was conducted Feb. 2-3, surveying 567 likely Democratic primary voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.