Bernie Sanders is gaining ground among black voters, almost matching the support Joe Biden received from that demographic, according to a poll published Friday.
The Vermont senator holds 29 per cent support from black Democratic primary voters, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll revealed.
Biden, who has boasted he has the most support of any candidate among African American voters and claims that demographic is his ‘firewall,’ is losing steam and has only a 2 per cent lead over Sanders with 31 per cent.
The former vice president even abandoned his efforts in New Hampshire before the primary polls had closed to travel to go campaign South Carolina, where nearly one-third of the Democratic primary electorate is black.
Even though the poll does reveal a big decrease in Biden’s lead with black voters, there is a significant margin of error of 8.31 per cent considering only 139 Democratic primary voters were surveyed.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (left) is closing the gap between himself and former vice President Joe Biden (right) when it comes to support from black Democratic primary voters
Sanders has 29 per cent support from black voters, according to a new poll, which is only 2 per cent less than Biden, who holds 31 per cent support
Biden’s campaign is relying on more diverse states to help his campaign regain momentum after coming in fourth and fifth in Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively. And black voters have been described as his ‘firewall’
Support among the black community will become more important in the coming weeks as the primary contest moves to states with more racial diversity than the first two early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire – where the states are 90 per cent and 94 per cent white, respectively.
Most of the rest of the Democratic primary candidates are having trouble gaining traction with the crucial voting bloc – in particular Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
The two more moderate candidates are hoping to maintain momentum as they come off big successes for their campaigns in the first two primary contest states, but neither bodes will with black voters, who will have more of a voice in Nevada caucuses on Saturday and the South Carolina primary the following week.
Black primary voters said in the NBC/WSJ poll that they have much more reservations or discomfort with Buttigieg and Klobuchar’s candidacy then they have enthusiasm or comfort.
Only 3 per cent said they would enthusiastic if Buttigieg were the nominee going against Donald Trump in November and 25 per cent said they would be at least comfortable with the prospect.
But a combined 41 per cent revealed they have reservations or are uncomfortable with Buttigieg as their candidate.
Five percent said they would be enthusiastic about a Klobuchar nomination, and 20 per cent they would be comfortable, while 35 per cent say they have reservations or uncomfortable.
Even though black voters are not excited about a lot of the Democratic prospects, the survey taken February 14-18 shows that only 14 per cent of the same demographic approve of Donald Trump’s presidency.
And black voters said overwhelmingly that they would support any of the Democratic candidates over the incumbent option.
The black voting bloc was previously seen as Biden’s ‘firewall’, but that view has diminished recently as the former vice president has seen quite a large drop off in his support.
Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar in particular have struggled to gain support with the black community as only 3 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, said they would be enthusiastic about their candidacy if they were the nominee
According to Quinnipiac Polls, before the Iowa caucuses, Biden held 26 per cent support from African American voters while
The former vice president is only losing steam with black voters – he also appears to be losing momentum from his previous frontrunner status in general.
In Iowa, Biden came in a stunning fourth place, earning six delegates, and in New Hampshire, he walked away with no delegates as he fell to fifth place.
The same national NBC/WSJ poll taken last year showed Biden with an enormous lead over Sanders with, at some points, as much as a 30 per cent margin.
The only other Democratic candidate that appears to be gaining ground with black voters is billionaire Mike Bloomberg – who has spent more than $450 million of his own money on his campaign since launching mid-November.
Bloomberg received about half as much support from black voters in the poll than Sanders or Biden, but all other candidates were reduced to single digits.
The poll, however, was conducted before Bloomberg took the stage for his first Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada Wednesday and was forced to face difficult questions over implementing racist stop and frisk practices during his time as mayor of New York City.