Biden atop new poll as Warren makes gains, Sanders and Harris slip

Former Vice President Joe Biden remains the 2020 favorite among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, according to a new poll from ABC News and The Washington Post that shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) gaining ground in her presidential bid and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) losing support.

The survey found that 27 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents favor Biden in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.  

{mosads}Sanders came in second, with 19 percent of respondents saying they favor the Vermont senator. The percentage represents a decrease of 4 points from July. 

The new survey also found Warren gaining substantial ground. Seventeen percent said they’d support Warren as the Democratic presidential nominee, a 6-point increase in two months. 

Meanwhile, Harris earned support from 7 percent of respondents in the latest poll, representing a 4 percent drop from July.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s support has remained steady at 4 percent in the poll, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and businessman Andrew Yang earned support from 3 percent of respondents. 

The survey indicates that much could change in the coming months as candidates vie for the nomination. Just 43 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they are committed to their candidate if he or she remains in the race. Fifty percent said they’d be willing to go in another direction. 

Biden is also viewed by many as the candidate most able to beat President Trump. Forty-two percent of respondents said he was the candidate was most likely to defeat Trump. But just 23 percent said Biden would be the “best president for the country.” Meanwhile, 19 percent said Warren would make the best president for the country, while 16 percent said the same of Sanders. 

The ABC News-Washington Post poll was conducted between Sept. 2 and Sept. 5 among a national population of 1,003. The survey included a sample of 437 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent adults. The margin of error for that sample is 5.5 percentage points.