Biden, Sanders emerging as top picks in 2020 Democratic field: national poll

Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are emerging as the most favored candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary presidential field, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News national poll released just more than a week before the Iowa caucuses. 

The survey found that Sanders and Biden are the only candidates registering at least 20 percent support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters. It also finds that the two candidates’ support is steadily rising nationally ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3. 

Thirty-two percent of respondents said they’d vote for Biden to be the Democratic nominee, representing a 4-point increase from a similar poll conducted in October. Sanders trails Biden with 23 percent support, which marks a 6-point jump from October. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) comes in a distant third, registering just 12 percent support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters. The new findings represent an 11-point slide from the previous poll in October. 

No other Democratic candidate registers double-figure support, with 8 percent favoring former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and 7 percent supporting tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang. Five percent of respondents said they’d back former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has polled well in Iowa and New Hampshire, while 3 percent put their support behind Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). 

The new survey also shows that voter enthusiasm is high among Democrats as the primary season nears, with 73 percent of respondents saying they are certain to vote in their state’s primary or caucuses. And many Democrats — 53 percent — are still open to the prospect of shifting their support to another candidate. 

Biden is also viewed by Democrats as the candidate best positioned to beat President Trump. Thirty-eight percent of  say Biden has the best chance of beating the president, pollsters found, while 18 percent say Sanders has the best shot. Ten percent say Warren has the best chance. 

Recent polls have increasingly indicated that Biden and Sanders have separated themselves from the rest of the Democratic primary field. A CNN national poll released last week showed that the two were in a statistical tie for the lead. A Monmouth survey unveiled that same day showed Biden with a 7-point lead over the progressive senator nationally.

The new Post-ABC News poll was conducted between Jan. 20 and Jan. 23 among a random national sample of 388 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 349 of which are registered voters. The margin of error is 6 percentage points.