Democrats are Feeling the Bern as Democratic presidential candidates prepare for their party’s first primary debate on Oct. 13.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders leads former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton among Democrats who say they’re planning on watching next week’s first Democratic presidential debate, according to a poll conducted by Google Consumer Surveys for IJ.com.
Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to announce this weekend whether he’ll enter the race, comes in third. He’s trailed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee:
Sanders similarly leads among men polled, with 38.1% to Clinton’s 34.6%, trailed by Biden at 15.6%. But the liberal firebrand trails Clinton among women, 41.8% to 39.5%, with Biden at 11.8%.
The poll’s sample was 50.1% male and 46.1% female, with 3.8% saying they’d prefer not to reply. 67.3% of the sample identified as White, 11.3% Black or African-American, 7.9% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 2.2% Middle Eastern or North African, 2.1% American Indian or Alaska Native and 1.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. 20.8% of respondents listed that they were some other race or ethnicity.
Clinton, who at one point enjoyed a roughly 50 percentage point lead in the race, still retains a commanding lead in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, outpacing Sanders by more than 16 percentage points for the period from Sept. 17 to Oct. 4.
But Sanders has made massive progress in the past six months:
Image Credit: Real Clear Politics/Screenshot
In addition to her overall lead, Clinton retains the perception among voters as the candidate most likely to win the nomination:
She retains a similar edge, although slightly narrowed, as the candidate most likely to beat the Republican nominee and win the general election. The former Secretary of State is polling at 50.9%, followed by Sanders at 25.2%, Biden at 17.9% and Warren at 3%.
When it comes to the issues Democrats wanted to hear during the debate, “income inequality” and “jobs and the economy” were resounding favorites among those surveyed, no matter the age bracket or gender of the respondent:
By contrast, viewers polled by Google Consumer Surveys for IJ.com after the CNN Republican presidential debate on Sept. 16 were significantly more likely to say they wanted to hear about national security and immigration.
Roughly a quarter of Democrats polled want to see Warren enter the race, with a slightly smaller percentage hoping to see Biden in the race:
Finally, Donald Trump edges out Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio as candidates Democrats could see themselves supporting in the general election, although by far the most popular answer was “None of them”:
Other Interesting Notes
The youngest and oldest age brackets were the most likely to answer in the affirmative to one of our screening questions, “Are you planning on watching the CNN democratic primary debate on Oct 13th?”
There is a substantial difference in favorability for Clinton and Sanders between young millennials (aged 18-24) and older millennials (25-34), as demonstrated by the bi-weekly Google Consumer Surveys tracking poll for IJ.com.
There’s also a noticeable generational gap on the issue Democrats want to hear about most during the debate, with younger voters hoping to hear about income inequality, and older voters interested in jobs and the economy.
Sanders captures more support from middle-class Democrats than Clinton, who performs best with the poor and rich.
Finally, Conan O’Brien should be a happy camper. Lincoln Chafee again cracks 1%.