“Most Bernie Sanders voters are OK with Hillary Clinton winning” is the headline of a USA Today article released today that deals with the latest Monmouth poll.
Here the article:
Most Bernie Sanders voters OK with Hillary Clinton winning
Bernie Sanders grabbed headlines when a recent poll showed him with a 10-point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, but nationally, the former secretary of State is still way, way, way ahead of the Vermont senator.
Clinton has 59% support among Democrats, compared with Sanders’ 26 %, according to a Monmouth University Poll released Wednesday. Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley is well back at 4%.
What’s more, a majority of Sanders supporters — 59 % — said they would be OK if Clinton bested their candidate and won the Democratic nomination.
Clinton’s numbers have changed little since October, when Monmouth found her ahead of Sanders 57% to 24%.
As for the topline numbers, this poll shows no movement at all in the margins. The exact same 33% margin from one month to the next, even though both candidates gained a little. That is a STATIC race. Of course, Hillary is at almost 60% here, so in that sense STATIC is great for her, bad for her opponents.
Here is the actual poll itself:
NATIONAL: CLINTON MAINTAINS BIG LEAD Most Democrats satisfied with frontrunner
Four-in-five Democratic voters would be either enthusiastic (22%) or satisfied (58%) with Clinton as their party’s nominee. Just 11% would be dissatisfied and only 5% would be upset. Even a majority of Sanders supporters (59%) would be okay if Clinton ultimately won the nomination over their preferred candidate.
To wit, a full 80% of Democrats would be satisfied or enthusiastic with Hillary as our nominee. That is a high number at this contentious point of the nomination battle. Good to see that most Bernie supporters would be satisfied with Hillary as the nominee.
Other findings of this poll that are also of particular interest for the nomination:
Personal ratings for the Democratic field have held basically steady over the past two months. Clinton scores a 73% favorable and 15% unfavorable rating now, compared to 77% – 18% in October. Sanders earns a 59% favorable and 16% unfavorable rating, compared to 60% – 11% two months ago. O’Malley has a 18% favorable and 18% unfavorable rating, with 63% of Democrats nationwide still having no opinion of him.
Hillary’s faves slipped 4% in this poll from their last one, but her unfavorable rating has also come down 3%, compared to last month. Bernie’s favorable rating slipped a point from last month (which is just MoE noise), but his unfavorable rating went up by 5% at the same time. .
ISSUES
The top issue for Democratic voters is the economy and jobs (27% first choice / 19% second choice), followed by national security and terrorism (20% first choice / 16% second choice) and education (15% first choice / 17% second choice). The next tier of issue concerns for Democrats includes gun control (9% / 11%), taxes and government spending (7% / 11%), and social issues (6% / 9%). Immigration (2% / 5%) ranks very low on Democratic voters’ list of concerns.
So, the issues most important to Democrats, by ranking, and first choice and second choice combined:
1. Economy/Jobs 46%
2. National security/Terrorism 36%
3. Education 32%
4. Gun Control 20%
5. Social Issues 15%
6. Immigration 7%
Note the prominence of National Security/Terrorism as the #2 issue on the list of top issues. It is obviously the most important issue for Republicans, but it is also, at least as of right now, very high up there for Democrats as well.
ON THE GOP SIDE (this part of the poll was released earlier, probably to get in before the GOP debate)
Trump dominates new national poll with 27-point lead
A new Monmouth University Poll gives Donald Trump his most commanding national lead yet — 27 points — in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, with Ted Cruz coming in second.
Ahead of Tuesday night's GOP debate, Trump led the poll with 41% among Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Far behind were Cruz (14%), Marco Rubio (10%) and Ben Carson (9%). All other GOP candidates polled below 5%.
However, Republican voters other than Trump or Cruz supporters felt the front-runner doesn’t have the right temperament to be president, according to the poll.
Trump is well ahead with 41%, followed by Cruz at only 14%, Rubio 10% and Carson at 9%. Quite the massive differential there, a 27% lead for Trump.