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Poll: Democrats say continued primary campaign isn't hurting the party

Bernie Sanders was defiant Wednesday, saying his campaign did not encourage the chaos at Nevada's Democratic convention over the weekend
Sanders refuses to quit as Democratic party rift grows 02:23

Seventy percent of Democratic voters or people who lean that way say the long nomination fight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is not damaging the party, a Gallup poll released Friday found.

A quarter of them, however, said they do think the long race is hurting the party.

Clinton and Sanders supporters are about as likely to hold the view that the long campaign is not hurting the party. There is also agreement across age groups, the poll found.

The poll surveyed 699 Democrats and independents who lean that way between May 13 and 15 with a 5 percentage point margin of error.

Nearly 60 percent of Democratic voters say they think that the long nomination contest will help the eventual nominee, a CBS News/New York Times poll released Thursday evening found. Just over a third said it will hurt. That's quite a reversal from 2008, however, when more than half of Democratic voters thought it would hurt their nominee. The latest survey found a majority of Democrats want Clinton to win the nomination and a whopping 83 percent expect her to clinch it.

More than 80 percent of Democrats said that Clinton will be able to unite the party while 68 percent said the same about Sanders.

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