Joe Biden (D) has dropped to third place, behind Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), according to a George Washington University Politics Poll released ahead of Tuesday’s Democrat debate in Westerville, Ohio.
The poll – taken Sept. 26-30, 2019, among 1,200 registered voters – shows Warren as the leading preference of Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters, with 27.8 percent support. Sanders took second place with 21 percent support, followed by Biden, who dropped to third place with just 18.4 percent support. The margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points indicates that Warren’s lead is firm.
According to the poll’s press release, no other candidate in the crowded Democrat field garnered more than five percent of the vote.
The survey also found that Warren is the overwhelming second choice of supporters of other candidates, signaling that her support could grow as the field begins to narrow.
Per the release:
Ms. Warren is making inroads with other candidates’ supporters too. The same group of Democratic and leaning voters were asked for their second choice, should their main pick drop out. Ms. Warren was the second choice of 34% of Democratic and leaning voters who support another candidate. Of Mr. Biden’s supporters, 45.1% chose Ms. Warren second. Of Mr. Sanders’, 31.2% chose her.
“The numbers don’t look as good for Sanders and Biden,” poll co-director Danny Hayes said in a Washington Post analysis. “Sanders is the second choice of just 21% [of all Democratic and leaning voters], and Biden is the second choice of 17%.
Warren, Sanders, and Biden will appear on the debate stage alongside nine of their fellow contenders for the fourth Democrat debate at Otterbein University at 8 p.m. EST.