Joe Biden slumps into three-way tie with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in new 2020 primary poll that gives more than HALF of the Democrats 1% or less
A new poll of a smallish group of Democratic voters has thrown the 2020 presidential primary race into chaos, with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren leaping into a virtual three-way tie with Joe Biden.
The Monmouth University Poll found the Vermont and Massachusetts senators each with 20 per cent of their party’s registered voters, and saw the former vice president slipping into third place with 19 per cent.
That could indicate a sea change in the race, with moderate voters abandoning Biden for his more far-left rivals.
Pollsters included responses from just 298 people spread out across the United States, a sample size less than one-third of what most data scientists use.
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s once sizable lead in the 2020 Demorcatic presidential primary race has dwindled to zero, accordin to a new poll
Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont (right) and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (left) are in a dead heat with Biden in a poll that is drawing interest because of its tiny sample size
But Monmouth’s last survey, two months ago, had Biden at 32 per cent – a higher level of support at the time than Sanders and Warren combined.
No one else in the latest poll reached double-digits. California Sen. Kamala Harris held steady at 8 per cent, a number twice that of the next competitors on the list.
Of the 21 Democrats covered by the survey, 11 registered 1 per cent or less.
‘The main takeaway from this poll is that the Democratic race has become volatile,’ said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. ‘Liberal voters are starting to cast about for a candidate they can identify with. Moderate voters, who have been paying less attention, seem to be expressing doubts about Biden. But they are swinging more toward one of the left-leaning contenders with high name recognition rather than toward a lesser known candidate who might be more in line with them politically.’
Warren has seen her popularity soar as she reaches for the socialist wing of her party with promises of corporate tax hikes and taxpayer-funded health care nationwide.
Among registered Democratic voters and those who ‘lean’ Democrat, she has a 65 per cent positive approval rating and just 13 per cent disapproval.
Monmouth’s poll shows a few Democrats clustered at the top of their party’s presidnetial primary rankings, including a troika who are running neck-and-neck
Warren is, on balance, the most likeable Democratic candidate according to this smallish poll; there’s a 52-point gap between her ‘favorable’ (65%) and ‘unfavorable’ (13%) ratings
Biden and Sanders are neck-and-neck with her on positive approval at 66 and 64 per cent, respectively. But both men have a quarter of the Democratic electorate viewing them unfavorably.
Biden has been hemorraghing support as the public absorbs a daily diet of his campaign-trail gaffes.
Last week he claimed Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were both assassinated in the 1970s, a decade later than reality.
On Saturday he praised the virtues of Vermont while delivering a campaign speech in neighboring New Hampshire.
Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer polled less than 1 per cent in the Monmouth survey; he needed 2 per cent to qualify for the September presidential primary debate but has two more days to hope for another poll to rescue him from the bubble
And as he talked Friday about the Civil Rights movement in America, he claimed more than 40 students were shot dead during a 1970 Vietnam War protest at Kent State University.
In reality, National Guard troops killed four students and wounded nine other people.
Political junkies watched closely on Monday for one near-last-place finisher, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, to reach 2 per cent support. That’s the level he needed to qualify for September’s Democratic primary debate in Houston, Texas.
Steyer, however, registered less than 1 per cent. He ca still qualify if another poll puts him at 2 per cent or higher by Wednesday night.
Polling is one of the two bars each candidate must clear in order to win a place on stage; the other is a collection of fundraising metrics.
So far 10 Democrats have cemented their place in the next debate. If 11 make the cut, the event will be split into two nights.