Hillary increases her lead over Bernie Sanders despite stumbles – but Joe Biden can cut into her numbers and she's under water in her home state of New York for the first time
- Without Joe Biden in the race, Hillary has more than twice the support of Bernie Sanders, 57-28, in a small national poll
- If the VP runs, that gap closes to 42-24 with Biden entering the race at 22
- Clinton led Sanders by just 10 points two weeks ago, growing her lead despite large crowds for Bernie's and a rough patch with her email scandal
- A separate Siena College poll has Clinton 'under water' in her home state of New York, with 51 per cent of voters saying they view her unfavorably
- Neither poll addresses Iowa or New Hampshire, the states where a Clinton candidacy could either cement itself as invulnerable – or fall far behind
- US Presidential Election 2016: See more of the latest news and updates
Despite weeks of non-apology apologies and dissembling over her classified email scandal, Hillary Clinton is still crushing the rest of the Democratic field, according to poll numbers released Monday morning.
The former secretary of state has the support of 57 per cent of Democratic primary voters, more than twice the 28 per cent who back Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to the latest CNN/ORC poll.
Pollsters conjured those numbers, though, from a scenario where Vice President Joe Biden would stay out of the 2016 presidential primary – awarding his supporters to their second-choice candidates.
WIth Biden in the race, however, Clinton's 29 point lead shrinks to 18 in a 42-24 split with Sanders. Biden would enter in third place at 22 per cent if he were to declare his candidacy.
TEFLON? Hillary Clinton has had an unenviable two weeks politically, but her numbers are improving
SOCIALIST CHIC: Bernie Sanders leads Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, but not nationally
THE BIDEN EFFECT: Joe's entry into the race would pull voters mostly away from Hillary
The smallish poll has a margin of error of 5 percentage points, making it a blunt instrument for measuring the shifting sands of the Democratic primary field.
It doesn't measure the Clinton campaign's health in early voting states like New Hampshire and Iowa, where she has had trouble building momentum – and Sanders' loyal crowds are several times the size of what Clinton can draw.
But what's striking about the CNN results is that Clinton's lead has grown in the face of tough questions about her commingling classified documents with her personal emails while she ran the State Department.
In a poll taken just two weeks ago, Clinton led Sanders by just 10 points, 37-27, with Biden clocking in at 20.
In a separate poll, the Siena College Research Institute found Clinton leading among New York's registered Democrats and left-leaning independents. But her 'favorability' numbers have plunged to a new low there, with 51 per cent now sayign they don't like her.
Overall, 45 percent of Democrats would vote for her in a New York primary today, compared to 24 percent for Biden and 23 percent for Sanders.
72 YEARS IN THE MAKING: Biden could throw a monkey wrench in the Democratic primary with a late entry
Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg noted Monday that 'New York has been in the "blue" column for every presidential race since Ronald Reagan’s re-election in 1984 and there’s no evidence yet – one year out – that points to that three-decade trend being reversed next year.'
He also said Biden 'runs best against the three leading Republican candidates, and he runs stronger against each of the three than does Clinton with Democrats, Republicans and independents.'
Biden is still weighing his options. His wife Jill, according to NBC News, would support the 72-year-old vice president if he wanted to make a third run at the Oval Office.
Neither poll addresses Clinton's thorny problems in Iowa and New Hampshire, two early voting states where Sanders has taking clear leads in the Democratic primary.
The first-in-the-nation primary and caucus states have outsize influence over the party nominating process, with enormous attention focused there in early February as their voters set the tone for the longer race.
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