Hillary Clinton retains lead on 2016 Democratic field, but support down from the summer

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is still leading the contest for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, according to a poll released Tuesday that also showed support for Mrs. Clinton has dropped by 15 points since July.

Mrs. Clinton was the first choice of 42 percent of Democratic primary voters in the national poll from the Democratic-leaning firm Public Policy Polling, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 24 percent and Vice President Joseph R. Biden at 20 percent.

Mr. Biden has not yet announced his 2016 plans, but no other candidate was above 2 percent support.

In a July PPP poll where Mr. Biden was not included, Mrs. Clinton had been at 57 percent, followed by Mr. Sanders at 22 percent and former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia at 5 percent.

Forty-four percent of Biden voters said Mrs. Clinton would be their second choice, compared to 21 percent who said Mr. Sanders would be. Reallocating his backers to their second choice with Mr. Biden out of the race, Mrs. Clinton led Mr. Sanders by a 51 percent to 28 percent margin.

Mrs. Clinton had a 64 percent/26 percent favorable/unfavorable rating split in the survey released Tuesday. That was better than Mr. Sanders’ 55 percent/26 percent split, but not as good as Mr. Biden’s 72 percent/16 percent split.

If Democrats were thinking of looking outside the current field, or beyond Mr. Biden, for a potential nominee, the numbers showed that Mrs. Clinton would still be the front-runner.

She led the field with 37 percent when former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, former Vice President Al Gore, Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts were added to the mix. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was also included in that question, though other 2016 candidates like Mr. Webb, former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chaffee, and Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig were not.

Mr. Biden was second in that field at 20 percent, followed by Mr. Sanders at 19 percent, Ms. Warren at 11 percent, Mr. Gore at 4 percent, Mr. Dukakis and Mr. Kerry at 2 percent apiece, and Mr. O’Malley at 1 percent.

“Democrats really are pretty content with the current field of candidates for president,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “Most voters would stick with Clinton, Sanders, or Biden even if just about every other big Democratic name of the last 20 years was running too.”

Mr. Dukakis, Mr. Gore, and Mr. Kerry were the Democratic presidential nominees in 1988, 2000, and 2004, respectively, and none of them made it to the White House.

But Democrats still had decidedly positive views of Mr. Gore and Mr. Kerry. Mr. Gore had a 62 percent/21 percent favorable/unfavorable split and Mr. Kerry had a 57 percent/20 percent favorable/unfavorable split.

Ms. Warren, who has been urged by many liberals to run for president, had a 51 percent/18 percent favorable/unfavorable split. Mr. Dukakis had a slightly negative 24 percent/28 percent split, with 48 percent unsure.

Mrs. Clinton also led all the current, former, or potential candidates in the poll in head-to-head match-ups. Mr. Biden came the closest, but still trailed her by 13 points, 51 percent to 38 percent.

The survey of 551 Democratic primary voters was taken from Oct. 1-4 and the margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percent.