Sanders Ousts Biden as Frontrunner in Latest Morning Consult Poll

Leah Barkoukis | February 11, 2020 7:30 AM

Sen. Bernie Sanders has taken the lead over Joe Biden in a Morning Consult survey released Tuesday.

Sanders received 25 percent support while Biden dropped to 22 percent support, making it the first time in Morning Consult’s weekly tracking of the Democratic presidential primary the Vermont senator has overtaken the former vice president for frontrunner status.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg picked up support from Biden’s decline, according to the survey, with the former earning 17 percent support and the latter receiving 11 percent support, tying for fourth place with Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

All other Democratic candidates—Andrew Yang, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, and Sen. Michael Bennet were all in the single digits.

Part of Biden’s loss was among African American voters, Morning Consult explains.

Biden’s rock-solid support with black voters has been a longstanding feature of his party’s race for president, but his performance in Iowa appears to have shaken his standing with the pivotal Democratic constituency. His first-choice status dropped across the board with African Americans, including a 13-point drop among black voters ages 55-64 and a 14-point drop among the oldest black voters, ages 65 and older.
Both Bloomberg and Buttigieg are beneficiaries of Biden’s faltering among black voters older than 45 as the primary moves to more ethnically diverse states, Nevada and South Carolina, following contests among the predominantly white electorates in Iowa and New Hampshire.
But doubling his support with black voters only garnered Buttigieg 4 percent of their vote, and Bloomberg (with 16 percent support) appears better-positioned to capitalize on further Biden struggles in diverse, delegate-rich states on Super Tuesday.
Plus, at 27 percent support, Sanders now trails Biden by just 8 points among this voter bloc, compared to 17 points before Iowa, and a victory in South Carolina later this month could prove decisive. (Morning Consult)