Post-debate poll is bad for Biden, disastrous for Bernie

CNN finally published the first post-debate poll for the 2020 presidential pack, and it may spell the beginning of the end for Bernie Sanders.

Both the Vermont senator and the front-runner Joe Biden precipitously drop from CNN’s previous poll, but Sanders’ drop may prove more dire for one self-inflicted reason: He pushed the entire primary to the Left.

With a whopping 10-point drop from 32% to 22%, Biden took the bigger hit by the numbers, but he’s still leading. But the socialist senator fell out of second place. He had been leading Kamala Harris by 10, but now he’s losing to her by 3 points. Sanders now polls even with Elizabeth Warren in a statistical tie for third place.

The best case for Bernie’s candidacy rests on his base’s ability to convince Democrats that he’s the premier candidate to implement a socialist agenda and drive the turnout necessary to win. But as soon as a less white and less old candidate can convince liberals that they could do the same, the case for his nomination is fundamentally undercut.

Biden faces similar problems, but his dominance among moderate Democrats gives him a cushion. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who earned 4%, and failed Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, who got 3%, both took a dip, and despite a crisp debate performance and refusal to embrace the worst excesses of the party’s liberals, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has still failed to see a boost. So long as that remains the case, Biden’s stature as the primary’s only viable moderate will keep in the race for the immediate future.