Monmouth: Hillary Lead On Sanders Under 20 Points for First Time

Bernie Sanders has cut Hillary Clinton's lead to less than 20 points for the first time among Democratic voters nationally in the latest Monmouth University poll, though the former secretary of state fares better in hypothetical match-ups with three top Republican challengers.

Here are the results released Tuesday of the survey of 1,003 registered voters conducted between Friday and Monday:

• Clinton: 52 percent, down 7 points from December.
• Sanders: 37 percent, up 11 points.
• Martin O'Malley: 2 percent, down 2 points.

Clinton's lead is now only 15 points over Sanders in the Monmouth poll.

In other results, Clinton would fare better than Sanders over these GOP candidates:

• Donald Trump: 44 percent Clinton to 16 percent Sanders.
• Ted Cruz: 39 percent Clinton to 17 percent Sanders.
• Marco Rubio: 37 percent Clinton to 17 percent Sanders.

"With a shrinking margin, a strong showing by Sanders in Iowa and New Hampshire could cut Clinton's national lead even more," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, N.J. "However, he would still have to overcome Clinton's demographic advantage in the ensuing contests."

The poll has a margin of error of 5.2 percent.

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