Biden tops Sanders by 9 points in new national poll

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads his closest challenger in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), by 9 points, according to a new national poll. 

The former vice president garnered 23 percent support in the Suffolk University–USA Today poll, while Sanders attracted 14 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) got 13 percent.

No other candidate was in double digits.

Biden’s sizable lead can be attributed, in part, to his popularity with black voters, pollsters noted. Forty-two percent of black voters named Biden as their first choice. Sanders was the only other candidate in the race to attract double-digit support among African Americans, with 11 percent.

The poll, which surveyed 1,000 voters nationwide, was conducted Dec. 10–14. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.

The results come ahead of the next Democratic presidential debate, which is scheduled for Thursday in Los Angeles.