Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leads Hillary Clinton by 9 points in the early-voting state of New Hampshire, also outperforming her in hypothetical general election matchups against Republican candidates in New Hampshire and Iowa, according to new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls.
Sanders came out in front in New Hampshire with 48 percent, compared to Clinton's 39 percent. Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley tied with 2 percent each.
When potential candidate Vice President Joe Biden was thrown into the mix, Sanders took an even greater lead over Clinton, with 42 percent, while the former secretary of state dropped to 28 percent and Biden came in with 18 percent support.
Clinton said Monday morning at a town hall in New Hampshire that she believes Sanders' overwhelming success is "great for the Democratic Party" and will help energize the left's base. "We want to turn out as many people as possible," she said, according to MSNBC.
Sanders also had stronger numbers than Clinton in hypothetical head-to-head matchups against Republican candidates in New Hampshire.
Matched up against Republican front-runner Donald Trump, Sanders came out in front 52 percent to 42 percent, while Clinton only led Trump 48 percent to 45 percent. Sanders also led Carly Fiorina, 47 percent to 45 percent, but Clinton lost to the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, 50 percent to 42 percent.
In Iowa, Clinton tops Sanders among potential Democratic electorate, 47 percent to 36 percent. With Biden in the race, Clinton leads with 33 percent, compared to Sanders with 28 percent and Biden with 22 percent.
However, even in Iowa, Sanders performs better than Clinton in matchups against Republicans.
Sanders beat Trump 48 percent to 43 percent but lost to Bush by a slight margin, 46 percent to 44 percent, as well as to Fiorina, 45 percent to 42 percent.
That's compared to Clinton, who led Trump 48 percent to 45 percent but trailed Bush 49 percent to 42 percent and Fiorina 50 percent to 42 percent.
The poll in New Hampshire was conducted among 1,044 registered voters, while 1,061 registered voters were interviewed in the Iowa poll, both with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. For the 404 Democrats in the New Hampshire poll, there is a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, and for the 348 Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, the margin of error is plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.
