Biden’s lead narrows in early voting states: poll

Joe Biden’s lead atop the Democratic primary field in early voting states has narrowed, according to a CBS poll released Sunday.

The former vice president enjoys a 5 point lead over his closest competitor, with 25 percent of likely Democratic voters in states holding their primaries before or on Super Tuesday saying they would vote for Biden if the primary or caucus were held today.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is the second choice of voters in the 18 states surveyed, coming in at 20 percent.

{mosads}Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are in tight competition for third, at 16 percent and 15 percent support, respectively.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), at 6 percent, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), at 4 percent, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, at 2 percent, are the remaining candidates scoring above one percent support.

Warren and Harris, at 55 percent and 53 percent, lead the field in terms of who respondents are considering voting for.

CBS’ surveyed 8,760 registered Democratic voters in early states between July 9 and 18. The margin of error for the sample is 1.5 points.

Sunday’s CBS poll is a significant shift from a similar one released June 16.

In that survey, Biden lead in early states at 31 percent support, followed by Warren at 17 percent and Sanders at 16 percent. Harris was fourth at 10 percent support.

That survey also looked at 18 states, but included Georgia instead of Maine.

The shifts in support in those states generally line up with how the first Democratic presidential debate was perceived: Warren holding her own on night one, and Harris being applauded for taking on Biden on night two.