Quinnipiac poll: Clinton leads Sanders in Florida, Ohio

With less than a week to go before Florida Democrats head to the polls, front-runner Hillary Clinton is beating Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 62 percent to 32 percent among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

“Secretary Hillary Clinton has doubled-up on Sen. Bernie Sanders in Florida,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll said, adding that “it is difficult to see a path to victory” for Sanders in the Sunshine State.  “He has just too much ground to make up and not enough time in which to do it.”

The poll has Clinton pulling ahead in Ohio, 52 percent to 43 percent – but Brown believes there is still a “long shot” chance of Sanders gaining ground in Ohio’s winner-take-all primary.

“Secretary Clinton’s advantage is impressive, but nowhere as large as the 30 percent point lead she has in Florida,” Brown said.

In both Florida and Ohio, the number of undecided voters is smaller than Clinton’s lead, meaning that in order to secure a win, Sanders would have to take all of the undecided voters and then chip away at Clinton’s core backers.

“The fact that there is no meaningful difference between the two candidates’ supporters when it comes to professed loyalty to their candidate contributes to Sen. Sanders’ problems,” Brown said.

On Tuesday, Sanders scored a surprise upset over Clinton in hard-fought Michigan. The win gives Sanders a chance to renew his momentum heading into next week’s high-stakes matchups.

However, mathematically, trying to catch up to Clinton will be difficult. He will have to win three-fifths of the remaining delegates to break even with Clinton.