Polling of New Hampshire voters' preference for the Democratic primary February 9 sheds little light on who'll emerge the winner — but that kind of volatility has reportedly been par for the course in the Granite State.
Surveys in recent weeks show former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has
either a narrow lead or getting
beat by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — and it's been that way for much of the year,
Politico reports.
Candidates should get used to it said Terry Shumaker, a former state co-chairman for both of Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns.
"The polling at this stage in New Hampshire has always been unreliable, going back the 1960s," Shumaker tells Politico. "New Hampshire primary voters have numerous opportunities to see the candidates close to the primary; they have no pressure to decide early."
The unease of the race was illustrated at New Hampshire's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Manchester, where the candidates, including former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, took some "veiled swipes" at each other, Politico reports.
At the dinner event, for example, Hillary Clinton — described by Politico as someone "who never mentions Sanders on the trail" — singled out "the special immunity Congress gave the gun industry" that was a "mistake, plain and simple," a reference to Sanders' 2005 vote for a law giving gun manufacturers immunity in the courts.
"Some candidates may be running to make a point," she said. "I'm running to make a difference."
For his part, Sanders spoke at length about his 2002 vote to oppose the war in Iraq — in contrast with Clinton.
"Now is not the time for more establishment foreign policy," he said.
History also points to a strategy of caution when it comes to predicting New Hampshire, Politico reports.
Just before the 2008 primary, the final national polling average showed Barack Obama with an 8.3-point lead, based on a surge of support following his victory in the Iowa caucuses, Politico reports. Clinton won New Hampshire by nearly 3 points — "one of the mot significant miscues in modern polling history," pollster Andy Kohut wrote in a
New York Times commentary.
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