Buttigieg surges to second place behind Biden as Warren sinks: poll

Former Vice President Joe Biden retook the national lead in the Democratic primary in a new Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg leapfrogged into second place.

Biden gets the support of 24 percent of Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic, retaking the lead from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) after seeing his support rise 3 points from the previous Oct. 24 poll.

Buttigieg surged into second place from fourth, with 16 percent support, up 6 points from October. Meanwhile Warren sank to third place from first after seeing her support drop to 14 percent from 28 percent in October.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) fell to fourth place from third, with his support falling 2 points to 13 percent. 

“Biden is back on top of the pack but now there is a 3-way race for second. Buttigieg has broken into the top tier, apparently at the expense of Warren, who has taken a dive after being hammered for being too far left on health care and other issues,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy. 

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who officially entered the primary race this week, is tied for fifth place at 3 percent with Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), entrepreneur Andrew Yang, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) each receive 2 percent. 

Another 11 percent of voters are undecided.

Besides giving Biden back the lead, 46 percent of Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic view him as the candidate who has the best chance of winning against Trump, while 10 percent say the same of Warren and Sanders and 6 percent say the same of Buttigieg.

Tuesday’s figures come amid a polling surge for Buttigieg — three consecutive Iowa surveys show the Indiana Democrat leading in the Hawkeye State’s caucus while another New Hampshire poll shows him edging out the competition in the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

The Quinnipiac University survey also marks a continuing of a recent slide for Warren, who has seen her poll numbers dip amid intense scrutiny over her “Medicare for All” policy.

The health care plan, a centerpiece of Warren’s White House bid, has grown less popular in the poll. Thirty-six percent of American voters say it is a good idea and 52 percent say it is a bad idea. The same poll in March found that 43 percent thought Medicare for All was a good idea compared with 45 percent who disagreed.

The Quinnipiac University poll surveyed 574 Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic from Nov. 21-25 and has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.