Michael Bloomberg and Bernie Sanders have split voters in the Super Tuesday state of Virginia, according to a new poll.
Despite representing very different positions on the ideological spectrum, Bloomberg, 78, and Sanders, 78, each attracts 22% support in Virginia from voters likely to take part in the state’s primary, a Monmouth University poll released Tuesday found.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, trails the billionaire former mayor of New York City and the socialist Vermont senator in Virginia, which joins 14 other states in weighing in on the 2020 Democratic presidential primary on March 3, at 18%, still within the survey’s margin of error.
While 11% of voters in the state, which doesn’t require party registration to vote in primaries, still remain undecided, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren attract 11%, 9%, and 5% support, respectively.
In the poll, both Sanders and Biden edge Bloomberg out when the respondents are narrowed to those who identify as Democrats, while Bloomberg beats the pair among independents and Republicans, a sign of volatility in the Democratic race for the White House.
Meanwhile, in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups, Sanders loses to Bloomberg, 46% to 42%, and to Biden, 49% to 39%, an indication of how the crowded center-left lane is helping Sanders.
“Virginia provides an interesting test on Super Tuesday. A wide range of candidates appeal to voters here and it is very much a jump ball at this point,” Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray said in a statement.
The poll, the first fielded by Monmouth University in Virginia, is based on responses from 400 Virginia voters who are likely to participate in the primary. Interviews were conducted by telephone from Feb. 13 through Feb. 16 for findings with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
[Also read: Nevada caucuses win would make Bernie Sanders a weak front-runner]
