Bernie Sanders has overtaken Hillary Clinton in Colorado with less than two weeks before Super Tuesday, according to a new Washington Free Beacon poll.
The poll shows Clinton’s double-digit lead in the state has evaporated, as Sanders now leads 49 to 43 percent. Nine percent are undecided.
Likely Democratic caucus-goers also gave Sanders a big edge on questions of honesty and trustworthiness and which candidate cares more about people like them.
The results represent a monumental shift from November, when Clinton led Sanders by 28 points in a Quinnipiac University poll. Colorado’s 79 delegates are up for grabs on March 1.
The new poll shows the Vermont senator remains popular among young voters, beating Clinton by 46 points with voters under 30.
Clinton maintains a slight edge with past caucus goers, who favor her 41 to 38 percent, and a small four-point lead with women. However, women under 30 favored Sanders by a 40-point margin.
Hispanics, which both candidates have been courting, broke for Sanders, who took 41 percent to Clinton’s 38 percent. Clinton is leading with African Americans by 12 points.
When asked which candidate is most honest and trustworthy, only 25 percent said Clinton, who is under FBI investigation for using a private email server while she was secretary of state. Fifty-six percent chose Sanders.
Likely caucus-goers think Sanders cares more about people like them by a 20-point margin, with only 31 percent finding Clinton empathetic.
Sanders also won the question of which candidate voters consider to be "the progressive," by a margin of 57 to 25 percent.
Issue-based questions tended to hurt Clinton while benefiting Sanders. Sixty-one percent of registered Democratic voters said they would be less likely to support Clinton for breaking her promise to President Obama by not disclosing foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation during her tenure as secretary of state.
A majority also said they would be less likely to support her for backing the Wall Street bailout.
When learning of his support for a $15 minimum wage, 59 percent of registered Democrats said they were more likely to support Sanders. Fifty percent were also more likely to support Sanders when hearing his plan to increase spending by $15 trillion.
The decision to legalize Marijuana was also popular among Democratic caucus-goers, with 63 percent saying legalization was good for Colorado, with the most outspoken supporters of the law going to Sanders.
Fifty-eight percent of voters who thought legalizing Marijuana was "very good" went for Sanders. Clinton leads 44 to 32 percent among voters who think the law has been bad for the state.
The Clinton campaign has begun to downplay expectations after a virtual tie in Iowa and a double-digit loss in New Hampshire, saying they always expected a long, drawn-out primary. Though she leads in South Carolina, a Free Beacon poll found Clinton tied with Sanders ahead of the caucus in Nevada on Saturday.
The latest Free Beacon poll comes as others are warning Clinton could be in danger of losing Colorado.
Sanders is bringing large crowds of young people to his rallies, hinting "2016 could spell ‘déjà vu’ for Hillary Clinton," who was defeated by Barack Obama in 2008 largely because of young voters, 9News in Denver reported.
Sanders has made big ad buys in several Super Tuesday states, including $700,000 in Colorado, Politico reported.
Clinton and Sanders both attended the Democratic Party's annual fundraiser in Denver on Saturday. The Denver Post reported Clinton’s "once-confident" campaign was "tempering expectations in a state where Bernie Sanders is poised to make a big showing in the March 1 caucus."
The Free Beacon poll was conducted by Targetpoint Consulting and includes responses from 1,144 potential Democratic caucus goers. The margin of error is 2.98 percent