Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held on to their positions as the frontrunner and runner-up following the second round of Democrat debates, according to a post-debate Morning Consult poll released Friday.
Although the first Democrat debate shook up the Democrat field – most notably with a surge for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) – CNN’s debates failed to drastically shake up the field, with candidates largely maintaining their pre-debate positions:
The August 1 poll, taken among 2,419 registered voters who are likely to vote in the Democrat primary, showed Biden continuing to lead the field with 32 percent support, followed by Sanders with 18 percent, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) with 15 percent, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with ten percent support, and Pete Buttigieg (D) with six percent support. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Beto O’Rourke had three percent support, while the remaining candidates polled two percent or less.
“No candidate saw movement outside the survey’s margin of error of two percentage points,” Morning Consult noted.
Morning Consult added:
The latest debates did not move the needle like the Miami debates in June, which saw Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) double her vote share in the immediate aftermath, moving from 6 percent of the vote to 12 percent, and Biden’s support dropping 5 percentage points.
The Democratic National Committee’s stringent requirements make it much more difficult for candidates to qualify for the next round of debates, which are slated for Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 in Houston, TX. In order to qualify, a candidate must garner 130,000 unique donors and earn at least two percent in four approved polls. Seven candidates have already qualified, including Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Harris, O’Rourke, Sanders, and Warren. Julián Castro (D) and Andrew Yang (D) are on the cusp of qualifying, each needing two percent in one more approved poll.
Candidates have until August 28 to meet the requirements.