Fox News Poll: Clinton ‘feels the Bern,’ trails Sanders by three points nationally

Bernie Sanders now tops Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination.

The latest Fox News national poll finds 47 percent of Democratic primary voters now back the Vermont senator, up from 37 percent in January. Clinton gets 44 percent, down from 49 percent a month ago.

This is the first time Sanders has been ahead of Clinton, who not long ago was regularly described as the “presumptive Democratic nominee.”

Clinton led Sanders in the Fox poll by as many as 46 points last summer, and had a 22-point lead as recently as two months ago.

“One thing that is clear from our poll — and others — is that Clinton has been losing support and Sanders has been gaining,” says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. “And this process appears to have accelerated since the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.”

The timing of Sanders’ surge doesn’t surprise Republican pollster Daron Shaw: “Historically, lesser-known candidates beating establishment candidates in early contests have seen the biggest boost in their national support.” Shaw and Anderson jointly conduct the Fox News Poll.

The last two Fox News polls show Clinton’s drop-off has been most striking among women (she has gone from 28 points ahead of Sanders to just 3 points up, for a shift of minus 25 points), whites (-13 points), and regular Democrats (-14 points). She has mostly held constant among black voters and those with a college degree.

Shaw says a detailed comparison of the polls suggests, “Blue-collar, white Democrats have been a major source of Clinton’s defection.”

Sanders outperforms Clinton in a hypothetical matchup against Republican front-runner Donald Trump. He leads Trump by 53-38 percent. Clinton has a narrower five-point edge over Trump: 47-42 percent.

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Source: Dana Blanton, http://www.foxnews.com