Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead among Democrats for her party's 2016 nomination, but her standing has slipped markedly, a new poll has found.
According to a
CNN/ORC poll conducted Aug. 13-16 of 1,001 adults, 47 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters say they support her bid for the nomination. But those numbers are down 9 percentage points since July, bringing Clinton below 50 percent for the first time in the poll.
Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has seen his fortunes rise with a 10-point boost since July bringing him to second place. Nevertheless, in a head-to-head match-up with Clinton, he is almost 20 points behind at 29 percent support.
Vice President Joe Biden, who has not announced his campaign, is in third place in the poll, with 14 percent support. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has 2 percent; Virginia Sen. Jim Webb has 1 percent; and less than 1 percent of the voters say they would back former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee.
The poll showed that it would be a boost for Clinton if Biden stays out of the race, as his backers would likely support her bid rather than Sanders. But 53 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters say they think Biden should run. Even among people who support Clinton, 50 percent said Biden should throw his hat into the ring.
But that doesn't mean Democratic voters think Biden or Sanders would make a better president than Clinton:
- 35 percent say Biden would do a worse job as president than Clinton compared to 27 percent who say he would do better job. Thirty-eight percent say there would be no difference between the two.
- 37 percent of Democratic voters think Sanders would do a worse job as president than Clinton, while 31 percent think he would do a better job. Twenty-nine percent say that there would be no difference between the two.
Democrats, however, feel Clinton is best placed to handle the economy, race relations, foreign policy, and the income gap between rich and poor Americans.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump got a new boost in the latest poll: for the first time since the poll was taken he has become competitive in a national election, trailing Hillary Clinton by just 6 points in a match-up.
The poll in July had him 16 points behind.
Clinton still beats every other GOP candidate. She is 6 points ahead of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; 9 points ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; and 10 points ahead of businesswoman Carly Fiorina.
But other takeaways from the poll indicate that Clinton's standing is slipping. There is a growing perception of wrongdoing associated with her use of a personal email account and server while secretary of state. Fifty-six percent now say there was wrongdoing, up from 51 percent in March.
And among Democrats, the share saying she did not do anything wrong has declined from 71 percent in March to 63 percent in the current poll. Just 37 percent of independents believe she did nothing wrong by using a personal email system, the poll found.
Clinton's favorability rating is also at its worst since 2001, with 44 percent holding a favorable view of her compared to 53 percent who have an unfavorable view.
Sanders has seen his favorability jump since last month from 38 percent among Democratic voters in July to 58 percent of Democratic voters in the current poll.
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