Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D) have passed former Vice President Joe Biden in New York state, according to a Democrat presidential primary poll.
A Siena College survey published Monday shows Sanders is supported by 25 percent of registered New York Democrat voters — a gain of 12 percent from the same poll from November — while Bloomberg is backed by 21 percent. Biden has sunk to third place with 13 percent after once leading the same poll in November by 10 points. In fourth place is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), at 11 percent, the poll found. Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) tie for fifth place with nine percent support each.
“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,” Steven Greenberg, a Siena College pollster, said of the numbers.
The poll, conducted between February 16 and 20, surveyed 658 registered New York voters. Some 315 of them identified as Democrats. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
The figures come after Sanders scored a decisive victory in the Nevada caucuses, cementing himself as the undisputed front-runner for the Democrat presidential race. Biden placed a distant second to the Vermont senator with roughly 19 percent of the vote, while Buttigieg finished a close third with over 17 percent.
However, on Sunday, Buttigieg’s campaign sent a letter to the Nevada State Democrat Party in which it alleged that there are “material irregularities pertaining to the process of integrating early votes into the in-person precinct caucus results.” Molly Forgey, communications director for the Nevada State Democrat Party, responded to the letter by stating the Buttigieg campaign could request a challenge of results.