Brown poll shows Hillary leading, PPP has Sanders ahead

Polling show it’s a close race to win the Democratic presidential primary in Rhode Island.

A local poll from Brown University’s Taubman Center for Politics and Policy indicates a slight lead for Hillary Clinton, while the nationally-recognized Public Policy Polling version shows a slight lead for Bernie Sanders. The Taubman Center poll found likely primary voters prefer Clinton to Sanders 43 to 34 percent, with 16 percent undecided. The PPP poll asked only people who intend to vote in the Democratic primary and found Sanders had an advantage, 49 to 45 percent, with 6 percent undecided.

According to the Taubman Center: “Results of the poll are based on a telephone survey of a random sample of 600 registered, likely voters in Rhode Island. The sample included likely voters who identified as Democrat (320), Republican (99) and Unaffiliated (181). Likely voters were defined as anyone who voted in November 2014, September 2014, April 2012, or registered since November 2014. The poll had a overall margin of error of 4 percent. The sample reporting that they would vote in the Democratic primary was 436 with a margin of error of 4.6 percent.” The PPP poll asked 668 likely Democratic primary voters on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Taubman Center found Clinton’s best demographic advantage over Sanders comes from the Black vote (63% to 13%). Sanders does best among unaffiliated voters (42% to 22%).

Read the Taubman Center’s full results here. Other important takeaways: 55 percent of Rhode Islanders want the state to tax and regulate marijuana. Gina Raimondo isn’t very popular, nor are truck tolls. But charter schools and tourism spending are.