Presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are the leading candidates in the Democratic primary field according to a new NPR/PBSNewsHour/Marist poll, the latest indication that the progressive senator from Vermont is seeing a surge in support ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
At least 24% of Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents are giving their support for Biden, while 22% are supporting Sanders who came close behind.
The Hill says that together the two candidates amassed nearly half of the support from Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents.
Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) garnered 17 percent support, followed by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), who came in at 13 percent support.
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang rounded out the top five candidates in the poll with 5 percent support.
The poll’s margin of error among the voter groups is plus or minus 5.4 percentage points.
The same survey showed Sanders leading Biden with voters of color, a voting bloc that Biden has carried throughout the 2020 primary campaign.
Twenty-nine percent of non-white voters said they supported Sanders, while 26 percent threw their support behind the former vice president.
The survey is the latest sign of Sanders solidifying his second-place position in the crowded primary, posing a clear threat to longtime frontrunner Biden.
A Change Research-Post and Courier poll out of South Carolina on Friday showed Biden at 27 percent support among South Carolina voters with Sanders close on his heels at 20 percent, marking the first time in this primary Biden has not held a double-digit lead in the state.
The polls come less than two months away from the first Democratic nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, which will provide successful candidates with momentum going into Nevada, South Carolina, and the Super Tuesday states.
Seven of the candidates, including Biden and Sanders, are set to face off in Los Angeles on Thursday for the final primary debate of the year.
The NPR/PBSNewsHour/Marist poll was conducted on Dec. 9-11 among 1,744 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. 704 Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents were polled during the same period with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4 percentage points.
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