Pete Buttigieg improved by 10 points while Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren dropped 12 points since September in the latest New Hampshire Democratic primary poll.
The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor was the top choice of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters in a Monmouth University poll released Thursday, capturing 20% support, a dramatic increase since the 10% he received in a September Monmouth poll.
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were in a statistical tie with Buttigieg for first place, with the former vice president at 19% and Sanders at 18%. Biden dropped 6 points since the September Monmouth poll, while Sanders upped his standing by 6 points.
Warren came in fourth place with 15% support, down from 27% in the September poll.
[Read: Warren campaign scrambling for survival]
While Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar was in a distant fifth place with 6% support, Monmouth University Polling Institute Patrick Murray noted that her standing could quickly change after the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses. The New Hampshire primary is a week later on Feb. 11.
“The race remains fairly wide-open,” Murray said. “To the extent that New Hampshire voters could take some cues from Iowa, it’s also worth keeping an eye on lower polling candidates like Klobuchar if any of the leading contenders stumble in the earlier Iowa contest.”
With the Monmouth poll, Sanders remains in the lead in RealClearPolitics’s average of New Hampshire primary polls at 21.5%. Biden is at 18.8%, Buttigieg sits at 18.3%, and Warren is at 14.8% in the average.
While the poll counts toward qualification in the Jan. 14 Democratic presidential debate, it does not push any of the candidates who have not yet qualified — including entrepreneur Andrew Yang, businessman Tom Steyer, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — closer to meeting the Democratic National Committee’s threshold of 5% support in four polls or 6% support in two early state polls. Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders, and Warren have all qualified for that debate.
The poll results came from 404 voters likely to vote in the Democratic primary reached by phone from Jan. 3-7. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9%.
