Poll: Clinton trounces Sanders in South Carolina
Hillary Clinton trounces Bernie Sanders among Democratic voters in South Carolina, according to a Monmouth University poll released Tuesday.
The poll found 69 percent of likely Democratic primary voters would back Clinton compared to 21 percent who said they would support Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.
One percent of Democratic voters said they would support former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
A third of voters said they are completely decided on their preferred candidate, 33 percent said they have a strong preference and are willing to consider others and 22 percent said they are really undecided.
On the Republican side, a Monmouth University poll released Monday found Donald Trump and Ben Carson are in a virtual tie in the early voting state, going into Tuesday night's fourth Republican debate.
But for the Democratic field, Clinton leads Sanders among self-described Democrats 74 percent to 16 percent. Among those who identify as independents, he does better, but still trails Clinton 53 percent to 35 percent.
Three-quarters of black voters said Clinton would do an excellent or good job as president while just over half said the same about Sanders. The survey found black and white voters are also equally as likely to trust Clinton to handle issues that concern the black community.
More than 80 percent said Clinton would do an excellent or good job handling issues of concern to women while just over half said the same about Sanders.
Eighty-one percent said they view Clinton favorably and only 7 percent view her unfavorably. Fifty-eight percent said they view Sanders favorably and 13 percent view him unfavorably.
The Democratic candidates will face off in their second debate, hosted by CBS News, its Des Moines affiliate KCCI and the Des Moines Register Saturday.
The poll surveyed 400 South Carolina voters likely to vote in the South Carolina Democratic primary between November 5 and November 8 with a 4.9 percentage point margin of error.
