Polling roundup: Sanders challenges Biden's frontrunner status

A cascade of polls released over the weekend have Bernie Sanders challenging Joe Biden’s frontrunner status, surpassing Biden in key early states as the national horse race tightens up.

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In a poll conducted in Iowa by The New York Times/Siena College that was released Saturday, the Vermont senator sat at the top of the pack at 25 percent. Three other candidates were battling for second place — Pete Buttigieg, Biden and Elizabeth Warren — all within three points of one another. Buttigieg was at 18 percent, to Biden’s 17 percent and Warren’s 15 percent.

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A survey in New Hampshire — which votes eight days after the Iowa caucuses — tells a similar story: Sanders has staked out a narrow lead, with a battle for second. A NBC News/Marist poll in the Granite State that was released on Sunday has Sanders at 22 percent among likely primary voters. Buttigieg was at 17 percent Biden was at 15 percent and Warren was at 13 percent. Amy Klobuchar, the senator from Minnesota, rounds out the candidates who finished in double digits with 10 percent.

A second New Hampshire poll released Sunday gives a wider lead to Sanders. In the CNN/University of New Hampshire poll, Sanders is at 25 percent among likely primary voters, to Biden’s 16 percent, Buttigieg’s 15 percent and Warren’s 12 percent.

Regardless of who they support, a plurality of voters believe Sanders will win the first-in-the-nation primary. Thirty-nine percent said they believed the Vermont senator will win the state, compared to 22 percent for Biden and 12 percent for Warren.


In past cycles, the first two states have been determinative for the race for the nomination. A narrow win by Sanders in both states, where he currently sits in pole position, could push him toward the nomination as he builds momentum.




https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/26/democrats-polling-bernie-sanders-joe-biden-105032