Clinton support down 10 points in a week

I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a lot riding on the first Democratic debate happening on Tuesday, there certainly is. All of the candidates, especially Hillary Clinton, have opportunities to score big. At this point in the race, Clinton’s poll numbers are soft and the debate can serve to harden her support or provide openings for democratic challengers to gain a foothold.

Report from Yahoo News:

Just days before she will take the stage in the first Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton’s lead over rival Bernie Sanders has narrowed, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Clinton’s support among Democratic voters fell 10 points within less than a week.

From October 4 to October 9, Clinton saw her support tumble from 51 percent of Democratic support to just 41 percent.

Her nearest competitors, Vermont Senator Sanders and Vice President of the U.S. Joe Biden, who has yet to decide whether he will run, both made gains. Support for Sanders jumped from just over 24 percent to 28 percent, and Biden rose from 16 percent to a even 20 percent in the same time period.

This is not the first time that Clinton’s support has taken a steep nosedive. Just last month, Sanders edged within eight points of the former secretary of state — Clinton at 39 percent; Sanders at 31.

Clearly a lot of Democrats are not yet on board with Hillary, in fact the trends show voters are leaving at a steady rate over the past thirty to sixty days. Hillary’s debate performance on Tuesday is going to be closely watched by people like Joe Biden who will look for signals that he stands at a great position to enter the race if Clinton is faltering.

Next week, following the debate, the narrative will either be how well Clinton did in cementing her support and knocking down her challengers, or how mediocre she did leaving the door open to a long race for the Democratic nomination. This will certainly be a turning point in the nomination race and something to watch intently.