Democrats want Bernie Sanders running for US presidency if Hillary Clinton quits: Rasmussen Poll

US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks at an organizing event for Hillary Clinton at Lebanon High School September 5, 2016 in Lebanon, New Hampshire. (AFP photo)

If US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton were forced to quit the race for the White House due to her deteriorating health, Democrats would like Independent Senator Bernie Sanders to accept the party’s presidential nomination, a new Rasmussen poll has found.

According to the survey released on Friday, 48 percent of likely Democratic voters favored Sanders in that scenario, while 22 percent supported Vice President Joe Biden.

Fourteen percent likely Democratic voters backed Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine, and nine percent chose someone else.  

Sanders – a former primary rival of Clinton – suspended his campaign in July and endorsed the former secretary of state, despite leaked emails that showed top officials at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) privately planned to undermine Sanders’s presidential campaign. 

Clinton returned to the campaign trail on Thursday, four days after she almost fainted during a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.

The incident fueled speculations about Clinton’s health, an issue that has been haunting her ever since she suffered a blood clot in her brain in 2012.

The candidate’s physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, released a statement via the campaign and said she had pneumonia.

Even before the incident, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and some other Republicans had accused Clinton of hiding critical information about her health.  

However, US President Barack Obama earlier this week endorsed Clinton’s fitness to serve as president.

“You want to debate who’s more fit to be our president? One candidate who’s traveled to more countries than any secretary of state ever has, has more qualifications than pretty much anyone who’s ever run for this job,” Obama said.

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves to the press as she leaves her daughter's house in New York, September 11, 2016. (AFP photo)

This week, both Trump and Clinton released summaries of their medical records in an effort to address growing speculations on whether they are physically fit to lead the country.

Trump’s report, signed by his personal doctor of more than three decades, Dr. Harold Bornstein, was released during an appearance on the latest episode of The Dr. Oz Show aired on Thursday.

Clinton’s campaign also released a similar report about the former secretary of state’s well-being on Wednesday.

Dr. Lisa Bardack, Clinton’s personal physician, noted in the report that the candidate was on antibiotics and swiftly recovering from a bacterial pneumonia that she was diagnosed with on Friday.