Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is slowly closing in on former Vice President Joe Biden’s (D) lead, according to Emerson Polling results released Tuesday.
The poll measuring the Democrat field – conducted August 24-26 among 627 individuals – shows Biden leading the pack with 31 percent support. However, Sanders falls only seven points behind, garnering 24 percent support. Warren’s percentage is perhaps the most shocking. She comes in a distant third place with 15 percent support – a full nine points behind Sanders – despite surging in other national polls.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) remained relatively steady, leading the lower tier with ten percent support. The poll signaled a bit of a shake-up among the remaining candidates in the lower tier, with Andrew Yang (D) coming in fifth place with four percent support. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) followed with three percent support each. Beto O’Rourke (D) saw two percent support. The remaining candidates garnered one percent support or less. The margin of error is +/- 3.9 percent:
“Mayor Pete Buttigieg has seen his poll numbers drop all summer and is now at three percent, behind Andrew Yang who is at four percent,” Emerson Polling’s director Spencer Kimball said.
“Mayor Pete has raised enough money to stay in the race for now but will need a strong debate performance to remain relevant,” Kimball added.
The poll also suggested that Democrats are beginning to solidify their choices, with 50 percent claiming that they will “definitely vote” for their chosen candidate– a nine percent bump from July.
Emerson Polling also found that Biden and Sanders have the most consistent voters, with 63 percent of Biden supporters and 62 percent of Sanders supports saying that they will not jump to another candidate.
“Additionally, 45% of Warren supporters and 39% of Harris supporters say they will stick with their choice,” Emerson Polling added.
Emerson also examined hypothetical general election match-ups, showing President Trump defeating Buttigieg, tying with Harris and Warren, and losing to Biden and Sanders.
Emerson’s poll comes on the heels of Monday’s Monmouth University Poll, which showed Biden falling to third place with 19 percent support. Both Warren and Sanders tied for the lead, with 20 percent support each. In other words, the three are – according to that specific poll – in a statistical three-way tie.