Former Vice President Joe Biden’s recent hints about entering the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries have helped to rocket him into the lead, further breaking away from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and former first lady Michelle Obama in a big way, according to a new poll.
The latest Zogby Analytics Poll shows the former Delaware senator doing 50 percent better than Sanders, the 2016 Democratic runner-up to Hillary Clinton, who lost to President Trump.
“Biden’s in the driver’s seat! Biden is the favorite, even with Michelle Obama in the race; Sanders in second place,” said the poll analysis provided to Secrets.
Among Democrats, Biden has 31 percent to 17 percent lead in the 2020 horse race poll. Among all Democratic primary voters, including independents, his lead is 27 percent to 18 percent for Sanders.
When Obama was added into the poll of all Democratic primary voters, Biden maintained his lead at 25 percent to 17 percent for Obama. With her in the survey, Sanders sunk to 12 percent.
No other Democrat registered double digits, even those who’ve announced such as California Sen. Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, or New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Of the 410 likely Democratic voters surveyed, only one chose Clinton ally and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
In both versions of Zogby’s Democratic primary voter polls — with and without Obama — Biden’s support was also higher than those who said that they are “not sure,” a sign that voters are starting to pick candidates, especially Biden.
Pollster Jonathan Zogby’s deep dive into his data found that Biden did well among city voters, suburban voters, and rural voters.
“The former vice president also bested his opponents among union voters, weekly Amazon shoppers, NASCAR fans and weekly Walmart shoppers,” Zogby said.
His three key takeaways:
- Biden retains a comfortable lead, especially over his closest competitor, Sanders. Even Obama is not impeding Biden. Last year, we had Obama beating Biden. More voters are starting to make up their minds in this crowded field, and that is benefiting the former vice president.
- Sanders still dominates among younger and independent voters, but Biden does well with swing voters, such as small city voters and consumer voting blocs we regularly track: weekly Walmart shoppers, Amazon shoppers, and NASCAR fans. Biden also does much better than Sanders with African Americans, while Sanders bests Biden with Hispanic voters.
- Elizabeth Warren was starting to separate herself in third place, but that is much harder in a deep race with potential newcomers Beto O’Rourke, Michael Bloomberg, and candidate Kamala Harris.
