RUTHFULLY YOURS

Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is beating Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, according to a survey of the presidential primary conducted by a Democratic-leaning firm.

Sanders leads Clinton 42 to 35 among New Hampshire Democrats. “We still find Hillary Clinton well ahead everywhere else, but it’s clear at this point that there’s a real race in the Granite State,” said Dean Debnam, the president of Public Policy Polling.

Clinton, who made a dramatic comeback victory in New Hampshire after losing to Barack Obama in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, has seen her approval rating there slip 15 points since April. “The main story in New Hampshire is how universally popular Sanders has become with the Democratic electorate,” according to PPP. “78 percent see him favorably to only 12 percent with a negative opinion — that makes him easily the most popular candidate on either side with their party’s voters. Meanwhile Hillary Clinton’s favorability numbers have taken a little bit of a hit — she was at 78/10 with Democratic [New Hampshire] primary voters in April, but now she’s at a 63/25 spread.”

PPP’s survey comes as Democrats await Vice President Joe Biden’s decision on whether to mount a White House bid. Biden met with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), the icon of the liberal grassroots, over the weekend. He’s also reportedly asked President Obama for his “blessing” to run.

“It’s important to remind ourselves of how conventional wisdom and early polling leaders in past primaries have fallen short,” the Draft Biden campaign wrote in a memo to party officials this week. “It is way too early to bet on 2016 polls. In the late summer/early fall of 2003 and 2007, party activists were still being courted and the eventual nominee was not leading in the polls.”

— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review.