Sen. Bernie Sanders last month in New Hampshire Credit: File: Jamie Gemmiti

Not even Vermont Republicans can resist Bernie-mania. 

According to a new poll conducted by the Castleton Polling Institute, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is tied for first place in the presidential race among Vermonters who identify as Republican or leaning Republican. The poll, conducted over the past three weeks, found that Sanders, businessman Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson each drew 12 percent of the GOP vote. 

“He’s the native son, so you expect a lot of support,” institute director Rich Clark, who conducted the poll, says of Sanders. “But I didn’t expect it to be as high among Republicans.”

To be sure, Sanders is hardly walking away with the Republican vote. More than twice as many Vermont GOPers — 28 percent — say they’re undecided. The rest are split between a fractured field, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who drew 8 percent, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who drew 6 percent.

Not surprisingly, Sanders, who recently overtook former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in polls of New Hampshire and Iowa Democrats, performed even better in Vermont among Democrats and independents. Sixty-five percent of those who identify as Democratic or lean Democratic said they backed Sanders, while 14 percent supported Clinton. Among Vermont independents, 39 percent support Sanders, nearly 20 percent support Trump and 7 percent support Clinton, the poll found.

“We see outsiders surging all around,” Clark says. 

Overall, 48 percent of Vermonters say they hope to see Sanders in the White House — but they’re not so sure it’s gonna happen. Forty-six percent say they expect Clinton to win the Democratic nomination, compared to 27 percent who think Sanders will. Twenty-six percent expect former Florida governor Jeb Bush to win the Republican nomination, compared to 21 percent who think Trump will. 

“Most people are saying it’s going to be Clinton-Bush, like the pundits have told us,” Clark says.

Results from Castleton’s poll were first released Wednesday night during a Republican debate-watching party at Rutland’s Paramount Theatre, as the Rutland Herald‘s Rob Mitchell first reported. The event was the first in a series called Project 240 — cosponsored by Castleton University and the Paramount — designed to increase civic engagement ahead of the 2016 elections. 

The poll’s overall margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent, though the margin much higher for subsamples, such as Republicans or Democrats. 

See Castleton’s full results below.

Castleton Polling Institute's Sept. 2015 Vermont presidential poll

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Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.

13 replies on “Sanders Tied for First Among Vermont Republicans”

  1. Wow I didn’t know there were that many people who are willing to see the debt keep climbing putting our future generations deeper into debt. Talk about child abuse.

  2. Gee did they only poll 10 people??? Don’t trust that poll at all cuz I can tell you of a lot of Vermonters who don’t want Bernie for Pres..they are leaning toward Cruz and Trump and some of them are democrats..617 in Vermont does not justified that Vermonters want Bernie.. what were the adults college students..?? 98% of them don’t even know who the Vice pres is..They have no idea what Socialist means.. or what will happen to our country.. Think people should look at the socialist countries..they are broke, they are in turmoil..So the poll is wrong..

  3. Sounds like you don’t have too many people that agree with you two! If you were paying attention, the last time Bernie Sanders ran in Vermont for the US Senate, he won by 74%! How often do you see that happen in this country? Please do your homework. Bernie is a “Democratic Socialist” which is entirely different animal. Although, you may like the capitalists on steroids better. You know, the ones that love that corporate welfare and giving all kinds of tax cuts to the uber rich, global corporations who pay NO TAXES yet ship their jobs overseas, get multi-million dollar tax rebates, and continue to bail out Wall Street and the banksters when they fail – all on the backs of the lower and middle class! So, if you like that model, continue voting against your own best interest. I’d rather see a level playing field where those that have taken so much start to pay their fair share!! Do you really believe that the wealthiest country in the world should have 40 million children in living in poverty! It’s a moral issue and you will have to answer to your maker some day!!

  4. Funny, but I haven’t heard much about Norway, Denmark, or Finland being in turmoil or broke. Those are democratic socialist countries that actually seem to be doing quite well!

  5. Spare me Valerie. I tried to give Bernie ideas how to reform corporate taxes to end corporate tax evasion and reduce job outsourcing. He wasn’t interested. In the first 2 years of Obama’s first term when Washington was controlled by the Democrats, how many bills were passed or even introduced to stop the issues you brought up? ZERO! So what is Bernie’s solutions? I’ve heard him rail against these issues for years without one single solution introduced.
    Menika you mentioned some but how about the ones that struggle? Circumstances vary greatly between countries. The politicians have allowed, encouraged, and even given tax breaks to companies that outsource jobs to the point that we are experiencing a trade deficit. What are the situations with the countries you mentioned as far as trade?

  7. @ Menika2011

    I guess you haven’t been listening to the news. Just a day or two ago VPR did a story on Sweden severely cutting back on its social benefits because they just can’t afford it anymore. Norway is only able to sustain its social welfare program bc it is plundering undersea oil.

  10. So Donnette I’m not allowed to voice my opinion because I ran for office as an independent while running a business full time and I received very few votes? So you believe in censorship I guess. I talked about stopping job outsourcing, making sure corporations paid their taxes, income tax reform, protecting social security, the same issues Bernie talks about but gives no ideas how to fix but I spoke for no one right?
    Put your name on the ballot for a statewide office and we can compare notes on how you finish. You know Bernie lost a couple elections himself don’t you?
    I am pushing plans to reduce housing rental costs between $50-100 a month, free child daycare for lower income people, reducing the cost of healthcare by 20-25% with accompanying reduction on healthcare insurance, and a plan to eliminate high deductibles for lower income people’s healthcare insurance. You still think I don’t speak for anyone?

  13. The poll is not scientific, but if it’s close, there is support for a Vermonter from the right. Too bad that the State’s leading (and useless) Dems: Leahy, Shummy and Lady Kunin are supporting Hillary, despite her obvious lies to the Govt and we the peeps.

    Just goes to show how messed up the Republican Committee is and politicians in general.

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