In three out of five new polls spanning May 13 to May 19, Bernie Sanders beats Donald Trump by almost 11 points, while Hillary Clinton is virtually tied with Trump for the presidency.
The Real Clear Politics (RCP) average for Clinton was 0.2 percent ahead of Trump, while the RCP average for Sanders was 10.8 ahead of Trump.
The polls were released by RCP, one set for Clinton and one for Sanders. Polls that matched Sanders with Trump were taken by CBS News/New York Times, Fox News, NBC News/Wall Street Journal, and Public Policy Polling. Polls that matched Clinton with Trump were taken by ABC News/Washington Post, CBS News/New York Times, Fox News, NBC News/Wall Street Journal, and Rasmussen Reports.
Both Clinton and Sanders were tied three times before according to RCP: in September 2015, in early December 2015, and at the end of January 2016. However, Clinton’s lead was widest over Trump at the end of March, by about 12 points, and has been steadily narrowing, while at that time Sanders’ lead was 14 points and has not narrowed appreciably.
A major observation of some political pundits has been that Clinton cannot hang on to polling leads and tends to trend downward against her opponents over time. According to columnist H.A. Goodman:
“The big issue with Clinton is that she doesn’t keep polling leads, and Election Day is over five months away.”
Another problem for the Clinton campaign is that her favorability ratings have plummeted; they are now higher only than that of Trump. According to the latest CBS/New York Times poll, her net favorability rating is at -21 (31 v. 52), compared to a net plus for Sanders of 8 (41-33).
If the objective is to keep Trump out of the White House, logic according to the poll numbers would dictate that Bernie Sanders should be the Democratic presidential nominee. Hillary Clinton claims to have garnered millions more actual votes than Sanders – yet according to the polls would not win the presidential election. So, what’s the answer?
If any nomination called for out-of-the-box thinking, this would be it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ99ZjUqk-M
Featured video and image via YouTube.
