fbpx

New National Poll: Bernie Sanders Opens Up 12- And 16-Point Leads Against Bloomberg And Biden

New National Poll: Bernie Sanders Opens Up 12- And 16-Point Leads Against Bloomberg And Biden

Sanders
Bernie Sanders seems to be on a roll. He’s leading in the polls and has opened up a double-digit lead in the Democratic nominating contest. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a candidates forum at the 110th NAACP National Convention, July 24, 2019, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders seems to be on a roll in the polls. The second-time presidential candidate is currently leading in the polls and has opened up a double-digit lead in the Democratic nominating contest, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

“Sanders has 31 percent support nationally, up 9 points since December, the last time the poll asked about Democratic voters’ preferences. His next closest contender has 19 percent. But that second-place rival is former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,” NPR reported. 

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 69: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin goes solo to unpack the question: Was Barack Obama the first political anti-Christ to rise in Black America?

What was also interesting in the survey is that Sanders’ support goes across the board. Surprisingly, Sanders is second with Black voters, within the margin of error, to Biden. Expectedly, he leads with voters younger than 45, progressives, in cities and among those without college degrees. Also,   surprising in that Sanders leads with women; college graduates, including white college graduates; in the suburbs and rural areas. 

Bloomberg leads with moderates and voters older than 45 and is also second with women, voters without a college degree and in rural areas. And despite his heavy advertising in the Black press and the recent endorsement by high-profile Black politicians, Bloomberg is third with Black voters.

In the poll, former Vice President Joe Biden came in third with 15 percent, a decrease of 9 points since December.

And since Bloomberg has moved so far up in the polls he is now qualified for the Nevada debate, despite not being on the ballot there for the caucuses on Feb. 22.

“To qualify, a candidate needed to have won at least one delegate in the first two contests, have four national polls showing the candidate with 10 percent or more or two-state polls from either South Carolina or Nevada showing the candidate with 12 percent or more support. Bloomberg previously cracked 10 percent in polls from Quinnipiac University, Monmouth University, and Fox News,” NPR reported.

One reason Bloomberg might have shot up so far is that he has had lots of exposure as of late — mainly through his own doing. The former New York City mayor and multi-billionaire has spent more than $300 million of his own money on ads.

As the two current frontrunners, Sanders and Bloomberg have been attacking each other. Most recently, Sanders took a shot at Bloomberg for the amount of money he has spent in the campaign, accusing him of trying to buy the nomination.

Sanders went to Twitter and posted: Bloomberg “will not create the kind of excitement and energy we need to defeat Donald Trump.” In turn, Bloomberg responded by tweeting a video compilation of attacks by Sanders against other candidates and their supporters online. In his tweet, Bloomberg urged that it’s important to “unite” and that “this type of ‘energy'” is not going to help the Democrats win in November.

Buttigieg and Klobuchar are the two candidates who have to be worried about their lack of support with Black voters, especially as the race is about to take a turn to the South, NPR reported. They each get 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively, with Black voters. Klobuchar does better against Trump with Black voters, with 80 percent of African Americans saying they would vote for her over Trump. Buttigieg gets 74 percent saying they will vote for him over Trump.