Hillary Clinton received a boost from her showing in last week's Democratic presidential debate, according to the latest national survey from Monmouth University, released Monday.
Clinton has the support of 48 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, up from 42 percent in September, the poll finds. Bernie Sanders gets 21 percent, essentially the same as the 20 percent support he registered last month. Vice President Biden, who is thinking about entering the race but is undeclared, has 17 percent support, down from 22% in September.
"The specter of a Biden candidacy still hangs over this race, but Clinton can take comfort that she has appeared to win back some support with a solid debate performance," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ.
If Biden chooses not to run, the poll finds, most of his support would migrate to Clinton, giving her a 57 percent to 24 percent lead over Sanders, the Vermont senator.
While Sanders did well with instant-reaction focus groups and on social media immediately after the debate last Tuesday, Clinton actually appears to have gotten more positive traction with Democrats who did not see the debate.
Just over half (52 percent) of Democratic voters viewed at least some of the debate, including 1-in-5 who watched the entire event, the poll finds. Sanders voters (65 percent) are more likely than Clinton supporters (47 percent) to report watching at least part of the debate.
Among those who saw at least part of the debate, 34 percent say Bernie Sanders surprised them with a better than expected performance and 29 percent say the same about Hillary Clinton. But among the nearly half of Democratic voters who did not see any of the debate, 26 percent are under the impression that Clinton did better than expected while 16 percent say the same about Sanders.
This may be a reflection of widespread news coverage of the debate, with most analysts saying Clinton exceeded expectations and solidified her standing with a strong performance.
The poll is based on telephone interviews with 340 registered voters who identify themselves as Democrats or leaning toward the Democratic Party, conducted between Oct. 15 and Oct. 18.
Results are subject to a margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.