Biden has a commanding 20 point lead in South Carolina poll that shows Sanders in distant second

Joe Biden has a dominating lead over his fellow Democratic candidates in South Carolina in a new poll released just days before the primary elections in the fourth and final early primary contest state.

A Monmouth University Poll released Thursday shows the former vice president with 36 per cent among Democratic primary voters, which is 20 percentage points ahead of the No. 2 candidate in South Carolina.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders earned 16 per cent in the state, battling it out for a close second place with billionaire Tom Steyer, who amassed 15 per cent – up 11 percentage points from the last poll.

In the three other early voting states combined, Sanders earned the most delegates with 45, while Steyer, who comes in last in national polling of the eight remaining candidates, has not earned any so far. 

Biden’s campaign has downplayed his big losses in Iowa and New Hampshire by claiming he would make up for it in more diverse states – describing black voters as his ‘firewall’

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (left) and billionaire Tom Steyer (right) are battling it out for a distant second place in South Carolina with 16 per cent and 15 per cent respectively 

Among black voters, Biden has an even more dominating lead with 45 per cent support with that voting bloc. 

With that demographic, Sanders drops to third black behind Steyer, who holds 17 per cent support to the progressive senator’s 13 per cent.

Biden’s lead in the first southern state to cast its ballots is in line with his claim that he holds popularity among black voters, since South Carolina Democrats are majority black.

Throughout the campaign so far, Biden has performed surprisingly poorly in the early primary contest states, which he has attributed to the lack of racial diversity in Iowa and New Hampshire, in particular, where he came in fourth and fifth place respectively.

He came in second place in Nevada, which has a more diverse electorate, but it wasn’t even close – earning 20 per cent of the vote to Sanders’ nearly 47 per cent.

Biden’s campaign has viewed black Democratic primary voters as its ‘firewall,’ and the former vice president left New Hampshire before the polls closed to campaign in South Carolina, a state where one-third of the primary electorate is black.

No other candidate earned in the double digits, with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren earning 8 per cent in the early primary state, a drop of 8 percentage points. 

Pete Buttigieg, who has struggled to earn support with the black community, earned only 6 per cent in South Carolina, where one-third of the Democratic primary voting bloc are black

Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has struggled to gain support among the black community but has performance surprisingly well in the early primary contest states, fell to fifth place of the eight remaining candidates.

He earned 6 per cent in the Monmouth poll conducted February 23-25, which is still up 3 points from before, but when it came to black voters he only saw 2 per cent support.

Still 15 per cent of South Carolina Democratic primary voters are undecided, even as they prepare to head to the polls Saturday.

Donald Trump won the Republican primary in South Carolina in 2016 earning 32.5 per cent of the vote in a crowded primary field.

He also South Carolina in the general elections that year by nearly 15 per cent, earning 54.9 per cent to Hillary Clinton’s 40.7 per cent.