Sanders rides momentum from Iowa to lead in new national poll

Bernie Sanders was a close second in the Iowa caucuses, but the Vermont senator is the new leader in a national poll from Quinnipiac University.

Sanders is at 25 percent in the poll released Monday, overtaking the former national front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, who is at 17 percent in the new poll.

And this one might be the shocker: former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is third, at 15 percent.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is fourth at 15 percent. Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Ind., mayor, who posted a narrow win in the Iowa caucuses, is fifth in the Quinnipiac poll, at 10 percent.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is at 4 percent in the poll.

Biden led the final pre-Iowa national poll from Quinnipiac at 26 percent, with Sanders at 21 percent, Warren at 15, and Bloomberg at 8 percent.

So, Sanders gets an Iowa bump, Buttigieg doesn’t, and Bloomberg, who didn’t even take part in the goings-on in Iowa, is all the sudden a viable player.

“Is the Bloomberg camp prepping the white horse for him to ride to the rescue? Maybe not yet, but without setting foot in Iowa or New Hampshire, he is suddenly a looming shadow over the primary field,” Quinnipiac University Poll Analyst Tim Malloy said.

Bloomberg appears to be gaining at the expense of Biden, who had held a strong lead among moderate and conservative Democrats and Democratic-leaners, but now has just a one-point lead on Bloomberg, 22 percent to 21 percent, and even Sanders is at 17 percent among the center and center-left.

Biden is also slipping on the “electability” quotient: 27 percent say Biden has the best chance of winning against Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, while 24 percent say Sanders, 17 percent say Bloomberg, and 9 percent say Buttigieg.

In the Jan. 28 Quinnipiac poll, Biden led on this question with 44 percent, followed by Sanders at 19 percent and Bloomberg at 9 percent.

“Clearly Biden’s fourth place finish in Iowa has hurt the perception of what was his biggest strength – electability,” Malloy said.

Story by Chris Graham