Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders seems to be inspiring more and more voters to “feel the Bern.”
Though Hillary Clinton is still the leading Democratic candidate, support for Sanders is on the rise, a new CNN/ORC poll (pdf) shows. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, Clinton leads Sanders 47 percent to 29 percent.
But comparing the results to the previous two CNN/ORC polls, Clinton is experiencing a downward trend while Sanders’ trend is upward. Clinton is down nine points since the July poll, and down 11 points since the June poll. Sanders, in contrast, is up 10 points since the July poll when he had the support of 19 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters. The June poll showed support for his campaign at just 15 percent.
The latest national poll comes on the heels of more signs of continued support for the Vermont senator. After day 6 of an informal poll by the Secretary of State of Iowa State Fair attendees, it was a tight race between the two, with Sanders at 46 percent to Clinton’s 48 percent.
Speaking at the Des Moines Register Soapbox at the fair, Sanders said, “I welcome and urge all of you to join me in helping to make a political revolution, which transforms America, which creates a government that works for all of us, and not just a handful.”
The Sanders campaign has garnered attention for massive turnouts at events. Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger takes a look at this “Summer of Sanders,” writing that his campaign “has raced to channel the enthusiasm of a largely self-organizing movement into massive, attention-grabbing rallies.” For the turnouts—which surpass even those of Barack Obama’s in 2007—Schreckinger writes that it’s “left to Sanders’ largely self-organized grassroots support to deliver the crowds.”
Schreckinger continues:
Katherine Esposito, who paid $50 to attend a Sanders event Monay in Chicago, told The Reader, “It’s the first time in my entire life I’ve ever been excited about a political campaign.”
“I liked Obama, but he didn’t really grab me like this. I’m pumped,” Esposito said.
Reader reporter Ryan Smith concludes that