By Lindsey Stokes
Staff Writer

A new Franklin Pierce University-Boston Herald poll reveals that presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders retains his lead over former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire.

Sanders has an eight point lead over Clinton at 38-30 percent with Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to decide if he will run, drawing 19 percent. Were Biden to decide that he will not run for president, the poll shows Sanders with a ten-point lead over Clinton.

According to the poll, Sanders is holding his lead by attracting liberal democrats and independent voters under the age of 35.

The poll also showed that the first democratic debate, held last Tuesday, did little to change New Hampshire voters’ opinions of the candidates.

Despite Sanders’ lead in New Hampshire only 13 percent of likely voters say they think he will be the nominee, while 64 percent polled said they thought Clinton would be.

The other Democratic candidates featured in the debate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee were considered by participants of the poll to be non-factors.

The Franklin Pierce-Herald poll was conducted October 14-17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.