Trend lines from a new national poll revealed an emerging top tier in the Democratic presidential primary, with three of the top candidates on the upswing and the rest of the pack flatlining — or cratering.
Data from Morning Consult, which unveiled a new survey on Tuesday, showed Bernie Sanders, Mike Bloomberg, and Pete Buttigieg receiving steadily increased support among Democratic voters across the country. The three contenders finished first, third, and fourth, respectively, in the latest Morning Consult poll conducted Feb. 4-9. Joe Biden finished second in the survey, but support for the former vice president (and for Elizabeth Warren, who came in fifth) was headed due south.
“Joe Biden has lost his national front-runner status to Sen. Bernie Sanders for the first time as former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg of Indiana split key parts of the former vice president’s base of support,” read the polling memorandum from Morning Consult. The online poll surveyed more than 15,000 self-described Democratic primary voters.
Meanwhile, national support for Amy Klobuchar, in seventh place in the Morning Consult poll, has been static, according to the survey’s trend lines. The Minnesota senator has been enjoying some momentum in New Hampshire and is hoping for a strong finish there to propel her campaign.
Sanders led in the Morning Consult poll with 25%, followed by Biden at 22%, Bloomberg at 17%, and Buttigieg and Warren at 11%. But only Sanders, Bloomberg, and Buttigieg are on a polling upswing. The trend suggests they could begin to command the Democratic field, with the others dropping off as the contest heads to Nevada, South Carolina, and the 16 states voting on Super Tuesday.
Sanders and Buttigieg finished in a virtual tie in the Iowa caucuses and are in the strongest positions in the New Hampshire primary. Bloomberg is skipping the early states but has seen rising support after pouring more than $250 million of his own money into a mammoth campaign effort since entering the Democratic primaries in late November.
