Poll: Warren opens up lead in Democratic presidential race

Elizabeth Warren has a seven-point lead on the field in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential race, according to a new poll released today by Quinnipiac University.

Warren is at 28 percent nationally among Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents. Former Vice President Joe Biden is second at 21 percent, with Bernie Sanders at 15 percent and Pete Buttigieg at 10 percent.

Kamala Harris is at 5 percent, and Amy Klobuchar is at 3 percent.

Warren had held a three-point lead on Biden in an Oct. 14 Quinnipiac poll.

Also gaining since that last poll: Sanders is up four points, Buttigieg is up two.

“Former Vice President Joe Biden slips, Sen. Elizabeth Warren steadies, Sen. Bernie Sanders gets his groove back, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg breaks back into double digits,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Mary Snow said.

Diving into the numbers, Biden is still viewed as the candidate who has the best chance of winning against Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, but he is not as strong on this question as he once was.

In today’s poll, Biden gets 42 percent, but this is down from 48 percent in the October 14 poll and his high of 56 percent in an April 30 poll. Warren comes in second on this electability question with 20 percent, followed by Sanders at 14 percent.

Democrats and Democratic leaners paid attention to last week’s debate, as 29 percent say that they watched or listened to all or most of the debate and another 43 percent say that they paid close attention to news stories about it.

Among the 72 percent who either watched the debate or paid close attention to news stories about it, 26 percent say Warren did the best job, followed by Buttigieg with 17 percent, Biden with 12 percent, Sanders at 11 percent, and Klobuchar at 8 percent.

When asked who did the worst job in the recent debate, 15 percent say Biden and 11 percent say Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

“Last week’s debate didn’t help Vice President Joe Biden, who saw his numbers slip to where they were in early July following the first Democratic debate. Then, like now, he ranked among candidates doing the worst job in the debate. Later in July, his numbers rebounded. The question remains whether this is a blip or a trend,” Snow said.

Story by Chris Graham