Harris surges, Biden slips after debate: new poll

Washington (AFP) – Senator Kamala Harris has received a surge in support among Democrats following last week’s US presidential candidate debate while former vice president Joe Biden has slipped, according to a poll published Tuesday.

Twenty percent of Democrats surveyed in the Quinnipiac University poll said they backed Harris, the junior senator from California, up from just seven percent in a June 11 Quinnipiac poll.

Biden, who served as vice president under Barack Obama and has been seen as the frontrunner in the race, saw his support drop to 22 percent in the new Quinnipiac poll from 30 percent in the June 11 survey.

The surge in support for Harris in the Quinnipiac poll — and Biden’s fall — mirrored the results of a poll conducted by CNN and one by Politico/Morning Consult.

Harris’s exchange with Biden on racial discrimination was seen as a standout moment during the debate among candidates seeking the 2020 presidential nomination.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was at 14 percent in the latest Quinnipiac poll, down from 15 percent, while Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was at 13 percent, down from 19 percent.

Pete Buttigieg, the young mayor of South Bend, Indiana, received four percent, down from eight percent in the June 11 Quinnipiac poll.

“Biden’s once commanding lead has evaporated,” said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Mary Snow.

“There are other red flags for him in areas where he still leads, including double digit drops among Democrats and Democratic leaners who view him as the best leader, or as the best candidate to defeat President (Donald) Trump in 2020,” Snow added.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted June 28-July 1 among 554 Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters and has a margin of error of five percentage points.

Months of campaigning remain for the Democratic contenders, with the opening Democratic primary contest in Iowa set for next February.

And polls in the United States have been wrong before, most notably during the 2016 presidential election, in which Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton led in most polls but nonetheless lost to Trump.