Buttigieg momentum stalls for first time in weeks: poll

Pete Buttigieg’s rising popularity among the Democratic presidential primary field has stalled for the first time in weeks, according to a new poll released Tuesday by Morning Consult.

Buttigieg, who saw his stock soar last month after a widely hailed CNN town hall, dropped from having the support of 9 percent of respondents last week to 8 percent, among Democratic primary voters across the country who were polled for Morning Consult’s weekly Political Intelligence survey.

{mosads}The figure, though still within the survey’s 1 percent margin of error, suggests that the jolt the South Bend, Ind., mayor saw in the polls in recent weeks may be starting to slow.

Prior to his March 10 CNN appearance, Buttigieg lingered around the 1 percent mark, according to Morning Consult polling data.

But in the weeks after, his numbers shot upward, putting him on par with better-known candidates, like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). The rise in the polls was accompanied by a flurry of high-profile media appearances that helped boost his national profile, despite him entering the 2020 race as a relative unknown.

Among Democratic voters in early primary and caucus states, Buttigieg saw his numbers dip from 9 percent last week to 7 percent, the Morning Consult survey found. The figures are still well within the poll’s 4 point margin of error for early-voting states.

The survey also showed former Vice President Joe Biden surging among Democrats both nationwide and in early primary and caucus states in the days after he announced his candidacy. Among national voters, Biden climbed 6 points to capture the support of 36 percent of national respondents, while his support among early-state voter grew 4 percentage points, to 38 percent.

The Morning Consult Political Intelligence survey is based on interviews with 15,475 registered voters who indicated that they may vote in their state’s Democratic primary or caucus. Those interviews were conducted from April 22-28. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.

The results for early-voting states are based on surveys with voters in the four states that will kick off voting in the 2020 Democratic primary: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.