Sanders, Buttigieg rise in New Hampshire poll days before primary

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg are boosting their support in New Hampshire ahead of the Granite State’s primary Tuesday, according to a new CNN poll released Saturday.

Sanders leads the primary field with 28 percent support from likely Democratic primary voters, followed by Buttigieg with 21 percent. The results represented a 3-point and 6-point boosts from the same poll in January, respectively.

Former Vice President Joe Biden came in third with 11 percent, a 5-point dip from last month, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) dropped to 9 percent.

Sanders helped cement his frontrunner status by boosting his support by 8 points among voters under the age of 45 and 10 points among self-identified liberals. His rise has come largely at Warren’s expense – the Massachusetts lawmaker’s support among liberals dropped 6 points since January.

Buttigieg’s surge also seemed to come from support he stole from Biden. The Indiana Democrat rose 8 points among voters age 45 and older and 6 points among moderate and conservative voters. Biden dropped 9 and 5 points among those same demographics, respectively. 

Buttigieg also has a slim lead over Sanders among voters who are only leaning toward a candidate or are undecided by a 21-19 margin.

A majority of likely primary voters, 56 percent, said they anticipate Sanders will win the primary. The Vermont lawmaker trounced former secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the state’s primary in 2016 and is largely viewed to hold an advantage hailing from a neighbor state.

The poll comes after Buttigieg and Sanders finished neck-and-neck at the top of Iowa’s caucuses, with the former South Bend mayor putting up a much stronger showing than many anticipated.

The CNN poll, which was conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, surveyed 365 likely Democratic primary voters from Feb. 4-7 and has a margin of error of 5.1 percent.