Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has fallen to below 40 percent support in the race for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, losing 10 points of support since last month as Vice President Joseph R. Biden gains ground and runs better than Mrs. Clinton against leading Republicans.
Mrs. Clinton was at 37 percent among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters in numbers from a CNN/ORC poll released Thursday evening, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 27 percent and Mr. Biden at 20 percent.
Mr. Sanders’ support ticked down 2 points from August and support for Mr. Biden, who has not yet decided whether he will run, was up 6 points.
In potential head-to-head match-ups with Republican candidates, Mrs. Clinton trailed retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson by 5 points, 51 percent to 46 percent. She trailed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by 2 points, 49 percent to 47 percent, and was tied with real estate mogul Donald Trump at 48 percent apiece.
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, led Mr. Trump by 10 points, 54 percent to 44 percent, and led Mr. Bush by 8 points, 52 percent to 44 percent. He trailed Mr. Carson by 3 points, 50 percent to 47 percent.
In April, 60 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters said they would be enthusiastic about Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy if she won the nomination, but that’s slipped to 43 percent now. That’s still better than the number for Mr. Biden — 37 percent — and Mr. Sanders — 31 percent.
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Thirty percent also said they would be dissatisfied or upset if Mr. Sanders won the nomination, the highest number of the three.
Her support among moderates essentially held steady from August, while support among liberals dropped from 46 percent to 23 percent. Mr. Sanders increased his share of the liberal vote from 42 percent to 49 percent while slipping among moderates from 24 percent to 15 percent, while Mr. Biden has picked up support from both groups.
Twenty-nine percent of liberals said they would be enthusiastic if she were the party’s nominee - down from 68 percent in April.
Still, about two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters said they expect Mrs. Clinton to be the eventual nominee. And among those Democratic voters saying they are “extremely” or “very” enthusiastic about voting next year, 42 percent said they support Mrs. Clinton, compared to 29 percent for Mr. Sanders and 15 percent for Mr. Biden.
The survey of 1,012 adults, taken from Sept. 4-8 included 930 interviews with registered voters, 395 of whom were self-identified Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents. The margin of error among all registered voters was plus or minus 3 percentage points and among Democrats, it was plus or minus 5 points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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