Sanders tops 2020 Democratic field in New Hampshire: poll

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has jumped out to a substantial lead over his 2020 Democratic primary opponents in New Hampshire, according to a new WBUR News survey focused on the early primary state. 

The poll, which was released by the Boston public radio station on Thursday, shows that Sanders’s support has surged over the last month to 29 percent, giving him a double-digit lead over former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is in second place with 17 percent of the vote.

Sanders’s uphill climb represents a 14-point increase from the same poll conducted in December. Buttigieg received 18 percent support in the previous poll.

Former Vice President Joe Biden finished third in the latest poll with 14 percent support, while 13 percent of respondents said that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was their top choice. No other candidates registered more than 10 percent support. Six percent of respondents said they’d support Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), while five percent back tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang.

“I wouldn’t take these numbers to the bank,” Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the poll, told WBUR. “But you’ve got to be feeling pretty good about where you stand right at this moment if you’re the Sanders campaign.”

Sanders, Biden, Buttigieg and Warren have positioned themselves in the top tier of the 2020 Democratic primary field. But new surveys have indicated that Sanders and Biden may be emerging as the top picks among that pool. 

A CNN national poll released on Wednesday showed that Sanders and Biden were in a statistical tie atop the primary field. A Monmouth survey unveiled that same day showed Biden with a 7-point lead over the progressive senator nationally.

Meanwhile, a Des Moines Register/CNN poll released on Jan. 10 showed that Sanders had emerged as the leader in Iowa.

Tensions between the Biden and Sanders campaigns have escalated in recent weeks, as Sanders has increasingly criticized the former vice president’s record on matters related to foreign policy and social security. Biden’s campaign has hit back by accusing Sanders of “not telling the truth.” 

The WBUR poll was conducted between Jan. 17-21 among a population of 426 likely voters in New Hampshire. The margin of error is 4.8 percentage points.