Sanders, Bloomberg push past Biden in New York: poll

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is leading the Democratic presidential primary field in New York, according to a new poll out Monday. 

Sanders and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg leapfrogged former Vice President Joe Biden among registered New York Democratic voters in the new Siena College poll.

Sanders was backed by 25 percent support of respondents, followed closely by Bloomberg at 21 percent. Sanders’s support in the state shot up 12 points since the same poll in November.

Biden trails in third at 13 percent, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on his heels with 11 percent support.

Biden had previously held a 10-point lead in the poll, with 24 percent of respondents backing him in November.

Warren’s support also decreased, down 3 points from 14 percent in November, based on the polls. 

Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) round out the top six candidates with each registering at 9 percent, based on the new poll. 

Bloomberg is boosted by gaining the most support in the city he once served, while Sanders is leading in both upstate and downstate suburbs votes, Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said. 

“This is more of a snapshot of Democrats than pre-election poll since it is likely that South Carolina and Super Tuesday will significantly reduce the size of the field, and this poll did not look at likely primary voters,” Greenberg said in a statement.

The Siena College poll also found each of the top candidates beat President Trump by a wide margin in a general election match-up of the typically Democratic state.

New York voters, however, did not express confidence in the Democratic nominee defeating Trump in November, according to the poll.

Of those surveyed, 62 percent said they believe the president will be reelected, including 81 percent of respondents who identified as Republicans, 73 percent of independents and 48 percent of Democrats.

The poll surveyed 658 registered New York voters, including 315 who identified as Democrats, from Feb. 16 to 20. There is an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points and a margin of error of plus or minus 6.6 percentage points for questions related to surveyed Democrats.