Clinton maintains big lead nationally over Sanders

Hillary Clinton continues to hold a big lead nationally over Sen. Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a new poll.

{mosads}Clinton takes 52 percent among Democrats nationwide over Sanders at 16 percent, according to a Monmouth University survey released Wednesday. That’s essentially unchanged from the same poll in early July, which found Clinton at 51 percent and Sanders at 17 percent.

Rounding out the field are Vice President Biden at 12 percent, who has not launched a bid, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Sen. Jim Webb at 2 percent each. No poll participants have yet to say they support former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee for the nomination.

Nationally, Clinton has been dominating the field. She holds a 35-point lead over Sanders in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, and remains the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination.

Still, Sanders has been gaining on Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire. He has energized the liberal base, attracted thousands of supporters on the campaign trail, and some Democrats now believe he could win one or both of the first two early-voting states.

The Monmouth survey showed that most Democrats would be fine with Sanders as their party’s standard-bearer, with 39 percent saying they’d be satisfied and 17 percent saying they’d be enthusiastic.

Only 16 percent said they would dissatisfied with Sanders winning the nomination, and 7 percent said they would be upset about it.

That holds true even among Clinton supporters, with 43 percent of those who backed the former secretary of State in the poll saying they would be satisfied with Sanders as the nominee, and 7 percent saying they would be enthusiastic about it.

“Clinton continues to be the odds-on favorite for the Democratic nomination, but Democrats don’t have a particularly strong attachment to seeing her become their nominee,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

While Clinton has struggled with the broader public over whether she’s honest and trustworthy, she continues to be viewed favorably by an overwhelming majority of Democrats.

The Monmouth survey found that 71 percent of Democrats have a favorable view of Clinton, compared to only 17 percent who view her negatively.

Still, that’s down from 82 percent positive at the end of last year.

Sanders is viewed favorably by 42 percent of Democrats, with 12 percent viewing him negatively and 45 percent not knowing him well enough to have an opinion.

The Monmouth University poll of 429 registered voters who identify as Democrats was conducted between July 30 and Aug. 2 and has a 4.7 percentage point margin of error.