RUTHFULLY YOURS

A new poll released Monday shows just how fast Hillary Clinton’s star has fallen within her own party: The once-presumptive front-runner has lost a full third of her support among registered Democrats since July.

The poll, conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post, shows a precipitous drop in Clinton’s polling numbers from two months ago, when 63 percent of Democrats supported her. An ongoing e-mail scandal, questions about her trustworthiness, and the general anti-establishment fervor of the American electorate have combined to lower that number to just 42 percent today.

The drop is particularly pronounced among women, once seen as Clinton’s key constituency. Though 71 percent of women Democrats supported Clinton in July, just 42 percent back the former secretary of state today.

The chief beneficiary of Clinton’s collapse is independent senator Bernie Sanders, whose bid for the Democratic nomination picked up serious steam this summer. He increased his share of support ten percentage points between July and mid-September, and now wins the backing of 24 percent of likely Democratic voters.

#share#Vice President Joe Biden — who has yet to even declare his candidacy — also leeched support from Clinton. He rose from 12 percent support in July to 21 percent today, which puts him just behind Sanders.

The poll notes, however, that Clinton’s sharp downward trajectory may not be as dire for her prospects as it appears at first glance. Though young people and minorities are typically registered to vote at lower rates, they tend to have considerably better views of Clinton than the mainstream Democratic electorate polled in today’s survey.

Perhaps even more encouraging for Clinton, the poll shows that she would pick up most of Biden’s prospective supporters if he chooses to remain on the sidelines: When the pollsters excluded the vice president as an option, Clinton jumped to 56 percent, doubling her lead against Sanders.

— Brendan Bordelon is a political reporter for National Review.