Democrats Want Bernie Sanders if Hillary Clinton Drops Out; Sanders Offers More Support for Nominee

If Hillary Clinton were forced to leave the race for the White House for health reasons, Democrats would want former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to step in as the party's nominee, according to a new poll.

Among likely Democratic voters, 48 percent support Sanders in that scenario, according to a Rasmussen poll released on Friday. Vice President Joe Biden came in second at 22 percent, while 14 percent say Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine would be their top pick. Nine percent selected someone else.

Questions about Clinton's health peaked after she fell ill during a 9/11 memorial ceremony.

A video surfaced on social media that appeared to show Clinton stumbling as she's assisted into a Secret Service vehicle when she leaves the ceremony. The Clinton campaign later said she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday, but had not disclosed the condition publicly and only told a very few people.

Clinton returned to the campaign trail on Thursday after several days of rest following Sunday's incident.

For his part, Sanders returned to actively supporting Clinton's efforts on Friday, noting what he plans to do once she is elected.

"Well, I am not looking toward a President Trump. I am looking toward a President Clinton. And by the way, let me just say this: the only way that we ever make real change in this country is when people come together at the grassroots level," Sanders said on CNN Friday morning.

"The day after Hillary Clinton, as I hope, is elected president, I will do everything I can to sit down with her and say, President-elect Clinton, this is what the Democratic platform is about," said Sanders. "We worked together. Let's start implementing. Raising the minimum wage. Public colleges and universities tuition free. Transforming our energy, creating millions of jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. Taking on Wall Street. Let's get to work representing working families."

He added: ""[Trump] is a very good showman. He manipulates media fantastically. He does exactly what media wants. He gives them some crazy statement every day, and he's all over television. You can't turn on CNN without seeing Donald Trump. The reason he is doing so well is there is a lot of angst in this country, there's a lot of pain in this country, a lot of hurt in this country," Sanders said.

The Rasmussen poll also found that 46 percent of voters overall said the media is making too much of Clinton’s health, while 28 percent said there wasn't enough coverage; another 21 percent said the amount of coverage was right.

Among Democrats, 63 percent said coverage of Clinton’s health was excessive. However, only 35 percent of Republicans and 39 percent of independents agreed.

Rasmussen conducted its poll of 1,000 likely voters Sept. 14–15. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons