New poll shows Biden falling badly, three-way tie for Democratic lead

Joe Biden’s support in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is slipping, according to a new survey from Monmouth University Poll that shows the former vice president dropping below 20 percent.

The survey showed Biden with support from 19 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters nationally, a double-digit decline from Monmouth’s most recent poll in June when he led the pack with 32 percent.

{mosads}Now, the dynamics have changed, according to the Monmouth survey. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the primary field’s top progressive candidates, are each at 20 percent, putting them in a statistical tie with Biden and indicating a tightening three-way race.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was a distant fourth in Monday’s poll, with 8 percent. Her level of support was unchanged from Monmouth’s June survey.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has registered among the top contenders in polls for months, is now tied for fifth place with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) at 4 percent.

Only four other candidates — former tech executive Andrew Yang, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and bestselling author Marianne Williamson — garnered support form more than 1 percent of respondents in the poll.

Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said the latest survey results suggest the race for the Democratic nomination is entering a new phase.

“The main takeaway from this poll is that the Democratic race has become volatile,” Murray said. “Liberal voters are starting to cast about for a candidate they can identify with. Moderate voters, who have been paying less attention, seem to be expressing doubts about Biden.”

But instead of gravitating toward a lesser-known but more centrist-minded alternative, moderate voters “are swinging more toward one of the left-leaning contenders with high name recognition.”

Indeed, Biden has lost support among Democrats who identify as either moderate or conservative. In June, roughly 40 percent of those voters said they backed Biden’s bid for the nomination. Since then, that number has dropped to 22 percent.

There are signs that moderate and conservative Democrats are beginning to gravitate toward Sanders and Warren. Sanders saw his support among those voters jump from 10 percent to 20 percent over the past two months, while backing for Warren rose from 6 percent to 16 percent.

Since June, both Sanders and Warren have gained support overall, according to the Monmouth poll. Sanders gained 6 points in the latest survey, while Warren picked up 5 points.

At the same time, Warren has seen a noticeable uptick in favorability, climbing from 60 percent in May to 65 percent in August. Biden, on the other hand, saw his favorability drop from 74 percent to 66 percent during the same time period.

The Monmouth University Poll surveyed 298 registered voters who identify as Democrats or Democratic-leaning from Aug. 16-20. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.7 percentage points.