Former Vice President Joe Biden is reclaiming his front-runner status in Florida, according to a survey released on Thursday by St. Pete Polls.
The poll shows Biden pulling ahead of the pack in the Sunshine State with 35 percent support. Meanwhile, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg fell into second place with 25 percent support.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has taken the lead in polls nationally after back-to-back wins in the New Hampshire primary and Nevada caucuses, is running in a distant third in Florida. The St. Pete Poll pegged his support in the state at 13 percent, a sign that the recent traction he has enjoyed in other states isn’t translating in Florida, where voters will cast ballots on March 17.
No other candidate registered double-digit support in the survey. Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg finished with about 8 percent support, while Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) registered 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
The St. Pete poll, conducted from Feb. 25 to 26, suggests that Bloomberg’s political stock has taken a hit in the wake of the Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas last week, when he came under frequent attack from his rivals and struggled to fend off criticism of his mayoral record, treatment of women and controversial past comments.
A St. Pete Poll survey released just before the Las Vegas debate showed the former New York City mayor in first place in Florida, with 32 percent support. Within a matter of days, that support slipped 7 points, the new poll shows.
The St. Pete Poll surveyed 2,788 likely Florida Democratic presidential primary voters. It has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points.