It's well established that the media will run big headlines for every poll that contains bad news for Hillary Clinton and
downplay the good ones, part of a broader
pattern of negative coverage. Which is why you probably won't hear so much about
this one from Public Policy Polling, even though it was done with PPP's characteristic wit.
PPP's latest tests Clinton against her actual primary competitors plus the big current subject of will-he-or-won't-he speculation, Vice President Joe Biden. The results? A big lead for Clinton:
Clinton leads the Democratic race with 42% to 24% for Sanders, 20% for Biden, 2% for Jim Webb, and 1% each for Lincoln Chafee and Martin O'Malley. Among Biden voters, 44% say Clinton would be their second choice to only 21% who say Sanders would be. If Biden doesn't get in and you reallocate his backers to their second choice, Clinton leads Sanders 51 to 28.
But they didn't stop there.
We also tested a fantasy field in which all of the names that have been thrown out there as possible Clinton challengers in recent months were included. Clinton gets 37% to 20% for Biden, 19% for Sanders, 11% for Elizabeth Warren, 4% for Al Gore, 2% each for Michael Dukakis and John Kerry, and 1% for Martin O'Malley. When you throw Warren, Gore, Dukakis, and Kerry into the mix Clinton still holds on to 83% of the people who support her in the actual field of candidates, compared to 80% for Biden, and 69% for Sanders.
And in head-to-heads, only Biden came within 20 points of Clinton.
Of course, this is a national poll and the primaries are a series of state contests, with polling averages showing Clinton leading narrowly in Iowa while Sanders has taken the lead in New Hampshire. Those early results could change the picture, as could Sanders building his campaign in other states. But when it comes to the Beltway hacks' narrative about Hillary Clinton sinking like a stone, and the Democratic Party needing Joe Biden to bail it out, this poll is a useful corrective. As of now, nationally, not Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden or any rainbow unicorn candidate is stronger than Hillary Clinton.