A new national Morning Consult poll released Friday shows Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders now within single digits of rival Hillary Clinton, while on the Republican side, front-runner Donald Trump's lead has widened by six points.
The poll was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, after Sanders and Trump both dominated in the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday.
Sanders now trails Clinton by seven points - 46 percent to 39 percent. In the last Morning Consult poll, Clinton led by 13 points, but thanks to Sanders' historical 22-point win in New Hampshire, he picked up two points in the latest poll while Clinton lost four points.
Eight percent of respondents said they want "someone else," while seven percent said they "don't know" or had "no opinion."
Clinton is also slipping in terms of favorability among her party's voters. She previously topped Sanders in this department, but now, more Democrats say they view Sanders more favorably than Clinton, 78 percent to 75 percent.
Voters between the ages of 18 and 29 continue to favor Sanders far more than Clinton, 55 percent to 36 percent. However, the Vermont independent senator still performs poorly among blacks, with Clinton leading 63 percent to 26 percent. Sanders does better with Hispanics, but Clinton still came out on top, 52 percent to 44 percent.
The two are currently battling for the support of these two key demographics ahead of the Feb. 27 primaries in South Carolina, where more than half of the Democratic electorate is African-American, and the Feb. 23 caucuses in Nevada, where Hispanics play a big role. The Congressional Black Caucus' political action committee endorsed Clinton on Thursday, while Sanders met with Rev. Al Sharpton this week and has recently won the backing of influential singer Harry Belafonte and black author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
In the Republican field, Trump's support rose six points to 44 percent following the New Hampshire primaries, which the real estate mogul won by a 19.5 percent margin. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's support remained steady at 17 percent, while retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who placed dead last in New Hampshire, tied in third with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, each garnering 10 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush came in fourth with eight percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich took four percent.
The poll was conducted on Feb. 10-11 among 811 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters and 710 Republican and Republican-leaning independents, and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points and 3.7 percentage points, respectively.
