Poll: Bernie Sanders Continues to Rise in New Hampshire amid Caucus Confusion in Iowa

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is continuing to rise in New Hampshire despite the establishment Democrats’ purported desire to stifle his momentum, according to a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/Suffolk University poll released Monday evening amid the caucus confusion in Iowa. 

Vermont’s socialist senator is leading among likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters with 24 percent support in the Granite State, according to the Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/Suffolk University poll released on the night of the Iowa caucuses.

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D), who by most preliminary measures did not perform strongly in the Hawkeye State, came in second place in New Hampshire with 18 percent. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) came in third place with 13 percent support, followed by Pete Buttigieg with 11 percent support. No other candidate garnered double-digit support. 

While a majority, 59 percent, indicated that they have decided who they will support, 12 percent have yet to make a final decision.

The poll was taken February 2-3, 2020, among 500 likely voters. The margin of error is +/- 4.4 percentage points.

The results follow a 7 News/Emerson College Polling tracking poll released on Monday, which showed Sanders leading his closest competitor by 15 percentage points:

New Hampshire @EmersonPolling/@7News Poll (1/31-22):
Sanders 29%
Biden 14%
Buttigieg 13%
Warren 12%
Klobuchar 8%
Steyer 8%
Gabbard 7%
Yang 7%

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) February 3, 2020

The Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/Suffolk University poll’s release comes as confusion continues to dominate in the Iowa caucuses, with the Iowa State Democratic Party attributing the delay in results to “quality control” — an explanation that has piqued both interest and concern.

“We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results. In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report,” IDP Communications Director Mandy McClure said in a statement, calling the delay “simply a reporting issue.”

“This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and there is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results,” McClure added.