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A new poll on Democratic presidential candidates has former Vice President Joe Biden again in the lead and way ahead of his fellow competition.
Biden, who saw his first-place spot taken by fellow candidate Elizabeth Warren in one poll, just cemented his position as the front-runner in the race with 34 percent of the vote, Politico reports.
According to the new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, an independent research company, Biden leads by a whopping 15 percent to Warren who is in second place with 19 percent of the vote.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders took third place with 16 percent of the vote and both South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Senator Kamala Harris received 6 percent.
The candidates which followed included Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar (3 percent), Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke (3 percent), Entrepreneur Andrew Yang (2 percent), Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (1 percent), Billionaire Tom Steyer (1 percent), New Jersey Senator Cory Booker (1 percent), and Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan (1 percent).
Politico reports Biden’s surge in support “comes despite a plurality of respondents judging that Warren outperformed Biden during the televised forum.”
And:
Among those who watched or paid close attention to news coverage of the Ohio debate, 28 percent said Warren “did the best job,” and only 15 percent said Biden’s showing was superior.
White House allies and Republican lawmakers over the past month have targeted Biden relentlessly with unfounded allegations that he led the Obama administration’s efforts to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor in order to protect his son’s business interests in the region.
Biden also failed to eclipse a handful of his opponents in fundraising for the third quarter of this year, amassing just $15.2 million in the three months ending in September. Sanders raised $25 million, Warren raised $24.6 million and Buttigieg raised $19.1 million during that same period.
The survey did help other Democratic candidates looking to qualify for the fifth Democratic presidential debate next month.
“To participate in that forum, candidates must achieve at least 3 percent support in four polls approved by the Democratic National Committee and pick up contributions from 165,000 donors by Nov. 13,” Politico adds.
This poll will be Klobuchar’s third poll and O’Rourke’s second poll to qualify for the debate.
