AP Photo Poll: Clinton expands favorability lead over Sanders

Less than two months ahead of the first contests in the Democratic presidential primary, Hillary Clinton's net favorable rating among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents has risen even higher when compared to that of her closest rival in Bernie Sanders.

According to the results of Gallup's U.S. Daily survey conducted in November and released Friday, the former secretary of state's net favorable rating is 21 points higher than the Vermont senator's, an increase of 8 points from late September and early October.


More than three-in-four Democrats and leaners surveyed — 76 percent — said they had a favorable opinion of Clinton, while 18 percent said they did not, for a positive rating of +58 points. In the last survey, Clinton had a net favorability rating of +51 points, with 73 percent to 22 percent seeing her in a positive light.

In the case of Sanders, 51 percent gave him favorable marks, while 14 percent said they had an unfavorable view of him. Taken together, a slight increase in Clinton's favorability rating and a slight decrease in Sanders' resulted in the overall favorability disparity between the two candidates, who along with Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, will next debate on Dec. 19 in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Clinton's favorability numbers increased along all gender and generational groups over the last month, while Sanders suffered declines among every group except among women (a 1-point uptick) and those aged 18 to 29 (a 7-point jump). Sanders' sole demographic advantage over Clinton in the poll comes from the 18-to-29 group, with 50 percent having a favorable opinion of him and just 39 percent having a favorable opinion of Clinton.

Results from the poll came from interviews conducted as part of Gallup's U.S. Daily survey from Nov. 1-30, randomly sampling 1,628 adults identifying as Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents who rated Clinton and 1,592 Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents who rated Sanders. For both samples, the margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.