The presidential bid of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is catching on in the early voting states, according to new surveys released Thursday. Nick Gass
reports:
In Iowa, 50 percent back Clinton, while 24 percent support Sanders in the latest Bloomberg Politics poll out Thursday. In the most recent poll commissioned by Bloomberg Politics, 57 percent of likely caucus-goers said they would vote for Clinton, and 16 percent pledged their support to the self-described democratic socialist Sanders.
Meanwhile, Clinton leads Sanders 56 percent to 24 percent in New Hampshire, slightly down from last month, when she held an advantage of 62 percent to 18 percent. [...]
Among independents in Iowa, Sanders leads Clinton 35 percent to 29 percent, though the margin of error is higher in smaller subsets of the respondents.
Sanders also leads Clinton in people's assessment of authenticity, with 47 percent of Hawkeye State voters calling Sanders authentic, while only 30 percent view Clinton the same way. In New Hampshire, 46 percent see Sanders as authentic, as opposed to 34 percent for Clinton.
Pluralities in both states think Sanders is more likely to take on Wall Street.
At the same time, voters in both states gave Clinton high marks compared to Sanders on foreign policy experience and the ability to get things done in Washington. On the first issue, 84 percent of voters in both states said Clinton has the experience to “navigate a dangerous world.” More than 60 percent in both states said the former secretary of state and first lady knows how to navigate D.C. as well.