Senator devotes growing share of stump speech to convincing voters he has what it takes to be president after poll put him 27 points ahead of Hillary Clinton

Despite some new polls showing Bernie Sanders ahead in New Hampshire by as much as 27 points, there is an air of realism at his first campaign stop since the latest surge captured headlines here.

The meeting with seniors at the Peterborough community center reflected a conscious push by the campaign to bolster support among older voters, whose undeniable interest in the 74-year-old has been somewhat eclipsed by the more vocal enthusiasm Sanders generally receives from students and younger voters.

“He cares about us older folks – he is one of us you know,” says Merry Stockwell, a volunteer who introduced the senator from neighbouring Vermont to this retirement community an hour or so north of Boston.

Many people in the polite crowd of 200 to 300 know him well already, but some still want to be convinced he can realistically win power.



‘He cares about us older folks - he is one of us you know’ says the woman introducing Bernie Sanders to this group of seniors.

“I believe in what he is saying, I’m just not sure how much of it he is going to be able to achieve,” said Ruth, a 68-year-old retired educator from the nearby town of Antrim, who is one of the many voters in the state still to make up their minds.

Though equally sceptical about Hillary Clinton – “Hillary has got a lot of baggage” – she shrugs when asked what might convince her that Sanders can realistically take on Republicans and win the White House.

The campaign has been hearing this a lot, and a candidate who once promised to focus only on policy is devoting a growing share of his stump speech to trying to convince people that his message of political revolution is more than just wishful thinking.

“When we began nine months ago, our campaign was considered to be a fringe candidacy. Well the world has changed considerably in the last nine months,” Sanders said. “I think we can win in New Hampshire. It’s running very close in Iowa, I think we have a good chance there … The reason we are closing the gap nationally is that people understand that something is grotesquely wrong in America.”

Sanders has increasingly broken with his promise to ignore polling, and pointed to recent surveys suggesting he would defeat more moderate Republicans like John Kasich and Marco Rubio in New Hampshire while Clinton would struggle. Against Donald Trump – the real fear among Democrats here – Sanders claims the polls show him up by 23 points versus nine for the former secretary of state.

The campaign has also been anxious to counter the message from Clinton that she is the safe choice for Democrats in anxious political teams, by focusing on the greater passion among many of his supporters. “Republicans win elections when turnout is low,” warned Sanders.

“Coming from New England, I have a passionate belief in democracy,” he added, as he launched his now familiar call to boost voter turnout and tackle the “corrupt” campaign finance system.

In New Hampshire, the high name-recognition enjoyed by Sanders – who drove in Thursday morning from his home town of Burlington – may well overcome such concerns.

“I used to live in Vermont and know he can get stuff done,” says Stephen Bishop, a 37-year-old landscaper from Keene who has gate-crashed this senior event to show his support with his young family.

But for success in New Hampshire, and possibly Iowa, to translate nationally, Sanders will still need to persuade many more meetings like this in parts of the country that know him much less well that he is for real.