Poll: Biden leads, Sanders second as top tier slips

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads the Democratic field in a new national poll, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), but all of the top-tier candidates had a slide in support. 

Biden was supported by 19 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, while Sanders was supported by 14 percent in the Reuters–Ipsos survey published Thursday. 

They were trailed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), with 9 percent support, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), with 6 percent, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made his debut in the poll with 4 percent. 

The top four all saw a dip in support since the last Reuters–Ipsos poll. Biden’s support slipped by 2 points, Sanders’s support fell by 3 points, Warren’s support declined by 2 points and support for Buttigieg fell by 1 point. 

Those numbers are also significantly lower than those in the RealClearPolitics national average of polls. In that average, Biden has 27.8 percent support, Sanders 15.6 percent, Warren 14.2 percent and Buttigieg comes in fourth at 11.4 percent.

Nearly one-third of those surveyed in the Reuters poll, 31 percent, said they still don’t know which candidate to support, the highest indecision level since the same poll in April.

Researchers surveyed 719 adults this week who identify as Democrats, independents and politically unaffiliated. It has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4 percentage points. 

The Iowa caucuses, the first 2020 primary contest, will be held in less than two months on Feb. 3. 

More than a dozen people are vying for the Democratic presidential nomination.