Former Vice President Joe Biden maintained a double-digit lead over other Democrats in a new South Carolina poll, despite allegations that he inappropriately touched women.
The Change Research poll was conducted March 31-April 4, amid several women accusing the former vice president of being inappropriately affectionate toward them.
Biden had 32% in the poll, down four points since a February survey. Despite the slight dip, and not yet declaring his candidacy for 2020, Biden still had an 18-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who had 14% support, the same as the February poll.
[Opinion: Byron York: Face it: Biden and Bernie are too old to be president]
Support for Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., declined 3% since February, sitting at 10%. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, who has 9% support, gained 1 point since earlier this year.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Stacey Abrams are seeing their popularity rise in recent weeks, both gaining 7% support. Buttigieg launched an exploratory committee in January and Abrams is weighing her political future after a close but unsuccessful campaign for Georgia governor last year. Neither were listed February’s poll.
Change Research polled 744 registered voters who said they planned to vote in South Carolina’s 2020 Democratic presidential primary. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
