--- title: Hillary Clinton Lead for 2016 Democratic Nomination Has Shrunk description: December poll says 61% of likely Democratic voters say they would vote for Clinton canonical: https://time.com/3643271/hillary-clinton-poll/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-21T21:22:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:28.734Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton's Lead for 2016 Democratic Nomination Has Shrunk, Poll Finds og:description: December poll says 61% of likely Democratic voters say they would vote for Clinton og:url: https://time.com/3643271/hillary-clinton-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ccc77eec869c267/6987705f2dce01d68e9dc9e6/460572136.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1703 og:image:height: 958 og:image:alt: Hillary Rodham Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton's Lead for 2016 Democratic Nomination Has Shrunk, Poll Finds twitter:description: December poll says 61% of likely Democratic voters say they would vote for Clinton twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ccc77eec869c267/6987705f2dce01d68e9dc9e6/460572136.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Poll: Hillary's Lead for 2016 Democratic Nomination Has Shrunk > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Dec 21, 2014 9:22 PM UTC  Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks onstage at the RFK Ripple Of Hope Gala on Dec. 16, 2014 in New York. Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks onstage at the RFK Ripple Of Hope Gala on Dec. 16, 2014 in New York. Mike Coppola—Getty Images  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Dec 21, 2014 9:22 PM UTC Hillary Clinton’s lead over possible candidates for the 2016 Democratic nomination has “shrunk significantly,” a new poll found. 61% of likely Democratic voters in December say they would vote for Clinton, according to [a poll conducted by _ABC News_ and the Washington ](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/12/clinton-off-her-peak-but-still-towering/)[_Post,_](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/12/clinton-off-her-peak-but-still-towering/)down from her lead of 63% in November, and 73% in January. Vice President Joe Biden is in second place with 14%, the poll said, and Mass. Senator Elizabeth Warren is in third with 13%, though Warren has emphasized that she is not seeking a nomination. For the Republican nomination, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney is leading with 19%, with Florida Governor Jeb Bush in second at 14%, according to a McClatchy-Marist poll last week. \[[_ABC_](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/12/clinton-off-her-peak-but-still-towering/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3643271/hillary-clinton-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3643271/hillary-clinton-poll/"},"headline":"Poll: Hillary's Lead for 2016 Democratic Nomination Has Shrunk","datePublished":"2014-12-21T21:22:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:28.734Z","description":"December poll says 61% of likely Democratic voters say they would vote for Clinton","url":"https://time.com/3643271/hillary-clinton-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ccc77eec869c267/6987705f2dce01d68e9dc9e6/460572136.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ccc77eec869c267/6987705f2dce01d68e9dc9e6/460572136.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Rodham Clinton","caption":"Hillary Rodham Clinton","creditText":"Mike Coppola—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3643271/hillary-clinton-poll/","name":"Poll: Hillary's Lead for 2016 Democratic Nomination Has Shrunk"}}]}] ```