Bernie Sanders Leads Hillary Clinton in New Poll of Massachusetts Voters

AP Photo by Michael Dwyer

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have the backing of the the state’s Democratic establishment, but the voters in the state are going with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

A new poll from Public Policy Polling shows Sanders ahead of Clinton in the Bay State by a difference of 49 to 42 percent with a margin of error of +/-4.2 percent. The new poll of 538 likely Democratic voters was conducted as part of a multi-state blitz of Super Tuesday states. The results showed Sanders ahead in Massachusetts and Vermont while Clinton had significant double-digit leads over Sanders in nearly every other state except for Oklahoma and Michigan.

Massachusetts voters said they supported Sanders because they trust him more than Clinton to “crack down on Wall Street” and “raise incomes of average Americans.” Clinton edged Sanders with voters concerned about immigration, race relations, foreign policy, and women’s issues.

The new poll from PPP is a radical shift from the limited early polling on the race that showed Clinton far ahead of Sanders.

One piece of information in the new polling really stands out: Clinton voters are more committed to her than Sanders voters are committed to him. Just 14 percent of Clinton voters said it’s possible they’ll change their votes, while 36 percent of Sanders voters said they could change their minds before the March 1 primary.