Warren Tops Biden in New National Poll
Elizabeth Warren topped Joe Biden in a new national poll released Wednesday, another sign the senator has all but erased her deficit to the former frontrunner of the 2020 Democratic primary.
Warren got 27 percent of the vote among Democratic voters in the new Quinnipiac University poll, topping Biden’s 25 percent and marking the first time anyone has bested the former vice president since Quinnipiac started asking about the primary in March.
Warren’s two-point lead is within the poll’s margin for error, and this is only one survey in a raft of polls that have generally put Biden on top. But the result underscores Warren’s climb, and if she’s not the primary’s co-leader with Biden, she’s at least very close to it.
“After trailing Biden by double digits since March in the race for the Democratic nomination, Warren catches Biden,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement. “We now have a race with two candidates at the top of the field, and they’re leaving the rest of the pack behind.”
And the two campaigns appear headed in different directions: Biden dipped seven points since Quinnipiac’s August survey, while Warren climbed eight points.
Bernie Sanders got 16 percent of the vote in the September Quinnipiac Poll. Pete Buttigieg got 7 percent, and Kamala Harris got 3 percent. Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, Julian Castro, and Andrew Yang all polled at 2 percent. Some other candidates are still, technically, running for president.
Among African Americans, Biden’s 40 percent support more than doubles Warren’s 19 percent, but the Massachusetts senator continues to gain support among black voters. This is particularly noteworthy because in the 2016 Democratic primary, Sanders’ progressive challenge to Hillary Clinton fell short in part because he was unable to win over enough African Americans.
None of the candidates are remotely as popular, however, as a bill passed by the House to establish universal background checks for gun purchases. 83 percent of respondents said that was a good idea, underscoring the ongoing unpopularity of being shot to death. 71 percent of Republicans support the bill, as do 72 percent of gun owners.
The legislation will not pass the Senate, however, because Republican elected officials are taking their cues from the National Rifle Association, a gun industry lobby group and advocate of policies that all available research suggests result in more gun deaths.