Bernie Sanders cuts into Hillary Clinton’s leads in Iowa, N.H.: polls

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has cut into former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s still-sizable leads in the early presidential states of Iowa and New Hampshire, two new polls show.

In the race for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton led Mr. Sanders by a 26-point, 50 percent to 24 percent, margin in Iowa and a 32-point, 56 percent to 24 percent, margin in New Hampshire, according to surveys from Bloomberg Politics released Thursday.

But a Bloomberg/Des Moines Register poll taken in late May had her up by 41 points, 57 percent to 16 percent, in Iowa, and in a Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm poll taken in early May, she had led Mr. Sanders by 44 points, 62 percent to 18 percent, in New Hampshire.

In New Hampshire, Mr. Sanders led Mrs. Clinton when voters were asked to describe who the following phrases described better: “will take on Wall Street and financial elites,” “will fight for the average person” and “is authentic — what you see is what you get.”

The two were tied on the phrase “cares about people like me,” while Mrs. Clinton held sizable advantages on phrases involving electability in the general election, foreign policy experience, and an ability to get things done in Washington.

In Iowa, Mr. Sanders, a self-avowed democratic socialist who has decried big banks and income inequality on the trail, led Mrs. Clinton on the question of “will take on Wall Street and financial elites” by a 48 percent to 30 percent margin. He also led her by a 47 percent to 30 percent margin when voters were asked who the phrase “is authentic — what you see is what you get” better describes.

Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, had advantages over Mr. Sanders on the issues of who will fight for the average person and “cares about people like me.”

Eighty-four percent of Democrats in Iowa also sided with the former secretary of state on the description of “has foreign policy experience to navigate a dangerous world,” compared to 3 percent for Mr. Sanders. Seven in 10 voters also sided with Mrs. Clinton on the ability to beat the Republican nominee in the general election, and nearly two-thirds sided with her on the description “knows how to get things done in Washington.”

The Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm poll of 400 likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire was conducted June 19-22 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. The Bloomberg poll of 401 likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa was conducted over the same time frame and had the same margin of error.