Sanders leads primary field in North Carolina, Texas, Klobuchar has edge in Minnesota

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leads the Democratic 2020 primary field in the Super Tuesday states of North Carolina and Texas, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar leads in her home state of Minnesota, according to new polls released Thursday by the University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

Sanders registered the support of 23 percent of likely voters in North Carolina, followed by former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg with 19 percent, former Vice President Joe Biden with 16 percent, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) with 13 percent and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 10 percent.

Sanders has a slightly narrower lead in Texas, garnering the support of 23 percent of likely voters there, trailed by Biden with 20 percent and Bloomberg with 18 percent. Warren has 14 percent in the Lone Star State with no other 2020 Democrat breaking double digits in the poll. 

The polls show Sanders is continuing to ride his momentum after strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. Polls show the Vermont lawmaker is set to rake in a good chunk of delegates in the 15 Super Tuesday states and territories, including in North Carolina and Texas, which offer 110 and 228 pledged delegates, respectively. 

“These polls cement Bernie Sanders’s status as the national front-runner. Moving from state to state, he is competing with different candidates for first place, but his campaign and place atop the rankings is ubiquitous. He will win delegates everywhere. It is indeed hard to imagine a scenario where the primary ends and he doesn’t have the most delegates if this trend continues,” said Joshua Dyck, director of the Center for Public Opinion and associate professor of political science at UMass Lowell.

The polls are also good signs for Bloomberg, who has thrust himself into the primary field’s top tier in most Super Tuesday polls with the help of a nationwide advertising blitz. However, it is still unclear how a rocky debate performance Thursday will impact his electoral chances.

Meanwhile, Klobuchar has a 6-point lead in Minnesota, which is set to allocate 75 pledged delegates on March 3. She gets the support of 27 percent of likely voters in the Gopher State, followed by Sanders with 21 percent, Warren with 16 percent and Buttigieg with 10 percent.

Polls from all three states still show a fluid race — about a third of likely voters in both North Carolina and Texas said they could still change their minds and 38 percent of likely Minnesota voters said the same. Sanders’s campaign had the highest percentage of supporters in all three states who said they were firm in their backing for their chosen candidate.

Sanders also had a lead in all three states when likely voters were asked who they thought would ultimately win the Democratic Party’s nomination.

UMass Lowell polled 450 likely North Carolina primary voters from Feb. 12-18, 600 likely Texas primary voters from Feb. 12-18 and 450 likely Minnesota primary voters from Feb. 12-19. The surveys have margins of error of 6.5 percent, 5.9 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.