Sanders has 13-point lead in North Carolina ahead of Super Tuesday: poll

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leads the Democratic presidential primary field in North Carolina, according to a new poll released a day before voters cast their ballots.

Sanders has 31 percent support in North Carolina among registered voters who self-identified as Democratic and unaffiliated voters who said they would participate in the Democratic primary, according to a High Point University poll released Monday.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, sits in second place, trailing Sanders by 13 points, with 18 percent support among registered voters, based on the poll. 

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is trying to build momentum after winning in neighboring South Carolina on Saturday, is not far behind in third at 14 percent support, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) closely trailing in fourth at 11 percent, based on the poll. 

Sanders’s lead over Bloomberg shrinks to 8 points when pollsters evaluated “likely and actual voters.” Among that group, Sanders has 28 percent support, Bloomberg has 20 percent support, Biden has 14 percent support and Warren has 12 percent support.

Pollsters determined likely voters based on a series of questions asked about respondents’ past and intended voting behavior. 

An NBC News/Marist poll released Sunday illustrated a tighter race at the top between Sanders and Biden, separated by just 2 points with Sanders at 26 percent and Biden at 24 percent. 

Bloomberg was third in that poll, with 15 percent, and Warren was in fourth at 11 percent. 

North Carolina is one of the races Biden has said he expects to win, making the claim Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” as he tries to build on his momentum after his South Carolina win and closing in on Sanders’s delegates lead. 

Sanders is entering Super Tuesday as the leading primary candidate, and could significantly build on his lead, especially with his commanding lead in polls of California, which has the most delegates at play. 

The High Point University survey was conducted Feb. 21-28 by phone and online. The poll surveyed 1,216 adults from North Carolina counties. Results were weighted for gender, age, race and education level. There is a credibility interval of 3.4 percentage points.