Has the Bernie Sanders boomlet come and gone? This morning’s Quinnipiac poll in Iowa offers the first major piece of evidence:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is back on top among Iowa likely Democratic Caucus participants, with 51 percent, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont with 40 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
This compares to results of a September 10 survey by the independent Quinnipiac University showing Sanders at 41 percent, with Clinton at 40 percent.
Sanders fans kept pointing to online survey results suggesting people were most impressed with him. But this poll suggests the opposite: “Among the 48 percent of Iowa likely Democratic Caucus participants who watched or listened to last week’s Democratic debate, 62 percent say Clinton did the best job, with 31 percent for Sanders and 3 percent for O’Malley.”
A lot of folks will roll their eyes at the long-awaited “Hillary’s making a comeback!” narrative. We’re used to arguing that just because the media wants to see something, it doesn’t mean it’s happening. But the reverse is also true; just because the media wants to see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.