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Clinton impressed in her party’s first televised debate last week in Las Vegas, while Trump keeps rising as the billionaire real estate tycoon taps into nationwide anti-Washington sentiment.
Vice President Joe Biden, the centre of feverish speculation over his possible entry in the fight to be the next US commander in chief, sits third in a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll on the Democratic race.
But it is Clinton who is firmly in the lead, 20 points ahead of Sanders, with Clinton getting the backing of 49% of respondents, up from 42% last month.
Renewed momentum
Support for Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont and the only genuine challenger to ex-secretary of state Clinton, is down from 35% to 29%.
The poll offers scant encouragement for Biden, with support marginally down at 15%.
The survey, which included 400 people who said they would vote in a Democratic primary, was conducted October 15-18.
Clinton’s performance in the October 13 debate was widely seen as giving her campaign renewed momentum.
She cut a calm and confident figure as she parried jabs by Sanders and three other hopefuls, who challenged her on everything from political U-turns to gun control and military intervention in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Trump’s performance has only improved, as his support reached 27% in a new CNN/ORC poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. That is up three points from a month earlier.
But the biggest gain was enjoyed by Ben Carson who has been in second place for nearly two months, with the poll showing the retired neurosurgeon at 22%, up eight points since September.
No other candidate came close in the broad Republican field.
Public office
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio were tied for third at 8%, while Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul each had 5%.
The candidate taking the biggest hit was former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, whose star rose rapidly after a strong debate performance early last month.
But she lost her post-debate bump, shedding 11 points since mid-September to now sit at 4%.
Fiorina, Trump and Carson are political outsiders who have never held public office.
As for why Trump and Carson remain on top: “We’ve hit a chord,” Trump told CNN on Tuesday.
He went so far as to suggest a Trump-Carson outsider ticket was not out of the question.
“I like him, he likes me. I mean, stranger things have happened,” Trump said. “But it’s too early to think about.”
