It's the ISSUES, stupid. Paraphrased, and on loan from the Big Dog.
Hillary is strongly blowing away the competition on the issues that are important to us Democrats and Progressives. And, no, it’s not JUST on what is currently THE main issue, gun control. It is on ALL ISSUES that Hillary leads Bernie and Martin by huge margins. Basically, that means that the reason Hillary is so strongly preferred over her competition for the Democratic nomination is simple: It is the fact that she leads with us on all issues that are important to us, we prefer her on the issues over anyone else.
Recent polling makes that crystal clear:
1. Latest Quinnipiac poll from Dec. 2 tested 2 issues, and Hillary blows Bernie away:
Quinnipiac National Poll
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE Q71
Economy/ Foreign
Jobs Policy
Clinton 59% 64%
O'Malley 3 1
Sanders 31 23
SMONE ELSE(VOL) - -
WLDN'T VOTE(VOL) 2 -
DK/NA 5 12
On the all-important issue ECONOMY/JOBS Hillary leads Bernie by a full 28%, 59% to 31%,
This is presumably the one area that Bernie is supposedly strongest in, his signature area. Yet, he is blown away by Hillary here by a huge margin.
On the other important issue of Foreign Policy she is even further ahead, 64% to 23%, a 41% margin.
Hillary is seen, by us Democrats, STRONGLY, as the much better candidate on Foreign Policy and the Economy. Bernie’s attacks on Hillary in both areas are obviously falling on deaf ears, as Democrats prefer her strongly in both areas.
2. Latest CNN poll, from Dec. 4:
CNN POLL - ISSUES
Question 20A
Regardless of who you are voting for, which Democratic candidate do you think can best handle:
A. The economy
Base = Registered Democrats
Hillary Clinton 58%
Martin O'Malley 5%
Bernie Sanders 31%
Someone else 2%
None/No one 2%
No opinion 2%
Question 20B
Regardless of who you are voting for, which Democratic candidate do you think can best handle:
B. Health care
Base = Registered Democrats
Hillary Clinton 58%
Martin O'Malley 4%
Bernie Sanders 33%
Someone else 1%
None/No one 2%
No opinion 1%
Question 20C
Regardless of who you are voting for, which Democratic candidate do you think can best handle:
C. Climate change
Base = Registered Democrats
Hillary Clinton 49%
Martin O'Malley 6%
Bernie Sanders 36%
Someone else 2%
None/No one 4%
No opinion 3%
Question 20D
Regardless of who you are voting for, which Democratic candidate do you think can best handle:
D. Foreign policy
Base = Registered Democrats
Hillary Clinton 74%
Martin O'Malley 4%
Bernie Sanders 17%
Someone else 2%
None/No one 2%
No opinion 1%
Question 20E
Regardless of who you are voting for, which Democratic candidate do you think can best handle:
E. ISIS
Base = Registered Democrats
Hillary Clinton 59%
Martin O'Malley 6%
Bernie Sanders 25%
Someone else 3%
None/No one 3%
No opinion 3%
Once again, we are seeing Hillary with a strong lead over her competition on the issue ECONOMY. This time the lead is by 27% on this all important issue. 25% lead on the issue HEALTH CARE. The issue CLIMATE CHANGE sees Hillary with a 13% lead. FOREIGN POLICY clocks in at a crushing 57% margin, ISIS as an issue shows Hillary leading by 34%.
Hillary is in tune with DEMOCRATS on all the relevant issues.
3. CBS/NYT poll from November 15:
Poll: Hillary Clinton bests Sanders as the Democrats' "change" candidate
Combined VERY CONFIDENT and SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT confidence in handling of....
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS |
CLINTON 83% |
SANDERS 57% |
GUN LAWS |
CLINTON 76% |
SANDERS 57%
|
REGULATING BANKS |
CLINTON 70% |
SANDERS 65% |
REDUCE GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR |
CLINTON 67% |
SANDERS 64% |
Slightly different questioning here. The two polls mentioned before made the respondents choose between the different candidates on who would be best on the issues. Here the question was "How confident are you with candidate X in handling of...”
As we see, once again, Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents prefer Hillary over Bernie on all issues, as they give Hillary the higher confidence vote on all issues. That encompasses a 26% lead on confidence in handling an “International Crisis,” a 19% lead on “Gun Laws”, a 5% lead on “Regulating Banks” and a 3% confidence lead on the metric “Reduce Gap between Rich and Poor.”
With 56 days to go before Iowa voting starts, Hillary is seen as our (Democrats’) preferred candidate on all the important ISSUES, often by huge margins. That the all-important issues like ECONOMY/JOBS and FOREIGN POLICY as well as CLIMATE CHANGE and HEALTH CARE are so strongly in Hillary’s favor over her competition spells trouble for Bernie and also Martin, because being aligned on ISSUES with the voters you need for the nomination is typically more important when voters consider their preference over factors like general election electability (a measure Hillary strongly leads Bernie on as it is) or experience or other tangible factors.
It’s the ISSUES. That’s where it's at in this nomination contest.