Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is leading in Nevada nearly a week out from the Silver State’s caucuses, but five other candidates are seeing double-digit support, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal and AARP Nevada poll released Friday.
The poll, taken among 413 likely caucus attendees February 11-13, shows Sanders leading with 25 percent support. Five other candidates are garnering double-digit support, indicating a race that is far from settled.
Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) came in behind Sanders with 18 percent support, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) came in third place with 13 percent support. Tom Steyer (D) placed fourth with 11 percent support, followed by Pete Buttigieg (D) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), both of whom garnered ten percent support. Eight percent of voters said they remained undecided. Michael Bloomberg (D), who has been surging in national polls, is not on the ballot.
The Review-Journal noted that the candidates all enjoy solid favorability numbers:
Sanders (71 percent favorable, 25 percent unfavorable) and Warren (71 percent favorable, 23 percent unfavorable) had the highest favorability among the candidates. They were followed by Biden (68 percent favorable, 28 percent unfavorable), Steyer (64 percent favorable, 23 percent unfavorable), Klobuchar (62 percent favorable, 17 percent unfavorable) and Buttigieg (59 percent favorable, 25 percent unfavorable).
The margin of error is +/- 4.8 percent:
Much hinges on Nevada’s election day, as candidates scramble around the state to make last-minute pitches to potential Democrat voters. It remains unclear which way Nevada voters will ultimately sway. No candidate received the endorsement of Las Vegas’s powerful Culinary Union, but the Las Vegas newspaper, Las Vegas Weekly, endorsed Klobuchar and Biden while dismissing Sanders as a “non-starter.”
“Sanders is the only clear non-starter. It’s impossible not to regard the Vermont senator in a Trumplike mold—he seldom has shown an ability to build consensus and threatens to use executive orders extensively, just like Trump,” Las Vegas Weekly wrote.
Klobuchar, whose third-place finish in New Hampshire surprised many, needs a strong finish in Nevada. If she places sixth, as the poll indicates, it could jeopardize her chances of continuing her campaign past South Carolina. While she has not invested in Nevada as much as her competitors, her campaign announced the opening of two field offices and the addition of dozens of staffers.
Once again, candidates will need to reach a 15 percent viability threshold in order to snag some of the state’s 36 pledged delegates.
Buttigieg narrowly leads the field in terms of delegates, with 22 to Sanders’ 21. Warren has eight, Klobuchar has seven, and Biden has six.