Biden increases lead in South Carolina to 29 points

Former Vice President Joe Biden has increased his lead among Democratic primary voters in South Carolina by 29 percentage points, according to a Fox News poll.

Biden received 41 percent support from South Carolina voters, a 6 percentage point increase from July, when he held a 21 percentage point lead above his opponents.

{mosads}Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also saw a boost to 12 percent support, while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) dropped to 10 percent support. Sanders has canceled campaign events until further notice after he suffered a heart attack.

Behind the frontrunners lie Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) with 4 percent, a 12-percentage-point drop from July and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer with 4 percent.

The poll qualified Steyer for the November debate, as the fourth poll where he earned higher than 3 percent.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) earned 3 percent and South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg received 2 percent support.

The former vice president’s support among black voters appears to be largely responsible for the wide margin. He maintains a 4 point advantage on Warren among white voters but leads her by 41 points among blacks. He also leads among men and those over 45.

When the poll combined voters’ first and second choices, Biden soared to 52 percent, with Warren at 28 percent and Sanders at 23 percent.

The poll was conducted between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2, surveying 803 South Carolina Democratic primary voters. The margin of error was 3.5.

The poll distinguishing which races support the candidates had a margin of error of 6 for white voters and 4.5 for black voters.