A new Monmouth poll is out for New Hampshire (full PDF results are here). At this point, Bernie Sanders has led in enough New Hampshire polls that it is almost not surprising to see yet another poll with him ahead. However, just a few months ago, very few people would have thought that Sanders would be doing as well as he is. As it is, Sanders leads by 7:
Sanders: 43%
Clinton: 36%
Biden: 13%
O’Malley: 2%
Chafee: 1%
Lessig: 1%
Webb: 1%
Sanders is drawing support from both men and women:
In what may surprise some observers, Sanders has an advantage over Clinton among both men (44% to 34%) and women (42% to 38%) in the New Hampshire primary. Sanders leads Clinton among voters under 50 years old by 46% to 35% and voters age 50 to 64 by 44% to 34%, while Clinton edges Sanders by 42% to 35% among those age 65 and older.
Sanders has the combination of experience and a platform offering progressive change that is appealing to voters:
More than 6-in-10 (62%) Democratic primary voters say that the country needs a president with government experience who knows how to get things done, compared to just 23% who prefer someone from outside government who can bring a new approach to Washington. This is the exact opposite of opinion among New Hampshire Republicans, 68% of whom want the next president to have no political résumé and just 23% who value government experience. “As a career-long independent and ranking member of the Senate budget committee, Sanders possesses the combination of new ideas and Washington know-how that Democratic voters see as a positive,” said Murray.
This is the first time Monmouth has polled the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, so there is no direct trend to compare it to. Monmouth has polled Sanders relatively low compared to a lot of other pollsters (they only have him at 20% in their most recent national poll). So this result of Sanders + 7 would be consistent with a relatively pro-Clinton house effect in Monmouth, given that some other pollsters have found Sanders ahead by even more in New Hampshire.
Across multiple polls and different pollsters, we can see very clearly Sanders' meteoric rise in the Huffington Post/Pollster New Hampshire Democratic Primary polling trend:
New Hampshire is definitely feelin' the Bern.