Poll: Clinton's National Lead Over Sanders Widens to 25 Points
- VOA News
- Jan 17, 2016
- 2 min read
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Jan. 5, 2016.
Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads rival Bernie Sanders by 25 points nationally before the final Democratic debate and the all-important Iowa caucuses, according to the latest results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Clinton polls first among 59 percent of Democratic primary voters, while Sanders gets the support of 34 percent. Martin O'Malley gets two percent.
Those numbers are similar to those from December, when Clinton held a 19-point national advantage over Sanders.
On Sunday, Clinton sharpened her attacks on Sanders over the Vermont senator's record on gun control, just hours ahead of their fourth debate.
"I am very pleased that he flip-flopped on the immunity legislation," Clinton told CNN, a day after Sanders, who had been pushed by her campaign for his past position, announced he would change course and back legislation to reverse a 2005 law granting firearm manufacturers legal immunity.
Sanders has declined to call the 2005 vote a mistake a number of times, citing the fact that he worries about the impact rescinding immunity would have on small, family-owned gun shops.
On the Republican side
Republican presidential candidate businessman Donald Trump, left, and rival Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speak during the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate at the North Charleston Coliseum, Jan. 14, 2016, in North Charleston, South Carolina.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll also found one third of people who said they would vote in a Republican Party primary said they favored Donald Trump, followed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz at 20 percent support, Florida Senator Marco Rubio at 13 percent and retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 12 percent.
In December, Trump had led the No. 2 candidate, Cruz, by just 5 percentage points.In the new poll, his lead widened to 13 points.
The final Democrat debate will be Sunday night (0200 UT Monday) in Charleston, South Carolina.
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