Clinton's alignment with Obama, who remains popular with Democrats, was on full display at Sunday night's final debate before the Iowa caucuses. Sanders is polling at 36 percent while former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is flailing with an abysmal one percent of the party vote.

It's pretty clear things have changed in the Democratic presidential race when Hillary Clinton does a sky-is-falling routine for donors.

She also has a 54 percent to 35 percent edge among women, compared to a 64 percent to 19 percent lead last month, and now trails among voters under the age of 50 by a 52 percent to 39 percent margin after holding a 52 percent to 35 percent lead last month. A poll conducted by NBC News/Wall Street Journal reveals that Hillary Clinton is the party's leading candidate with 59 percent of votes followed by Sen.

Although she did not use the term, as she had previously, Clinton went on the offensive in the most recent Democratic debate against Sanders on stage over his apparent inconsistencies, and possible deficiencies in the event that he were elected. Clinton also repeatedly hit Sanders on his inconsistent support of President Barack Obama, at one point saying Sanders called Obama "weak". Only 13% said so in the latest poll, in which 26% of those surveyed said that their top issue was jobs and the economy. Sanders was effective when targeting Clinton for the $600,000 she made from Goldman Sachs for speeches. FiveThirtyEight employed two filtering options: polls-plus and polls only. Reporter: - To Chelsea - Senator sanders wants to dismantle obamacare. That's a disconcerting position for Clinton to be in a few weeks out from Iowa, which dealt her a surprising defeat in the 2008 primary contest.

"We chose to do it the old-fashioned way - reach out to middle-class families and ask for their help", he said, adding that he was stunned by the end result - 2.5 million individual contributions that averaged $27.

Sanders is doing well in Iowa and New Hampshire (the first two primary races of the election season), which has spooked the Clinton campaign. His former colleague, he said in a statement released by Clinton's campaign, is the best person to carry on the Obama administration's legacy.

"On the crucial foreign policy issue of our time, it turns out that Secretary Clinton, with all of her experience, was wrong and I was right", he said Tuesday.

It's a persuasive theory; Sanders has tried and failed to make any real inroads into Clinton's black support.