Poll suggests 3-way Dem race

The 2016 Democratic presidential nomination could be headed toward a three-way race, according to a Bloomberg Politics poll released Wednesday.

{mosads}Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is supported by 33 percent of Democrats surveyed in the poll, followed by Vice President Biden at 25 percent and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at 24 percent.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Sen. Jim Webb (Va.) and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee combined to receive less than 4 percent support nationally.

Biden, who is mulling entering the Democratic race, has seen his favorability numbers tick up in the poll since April.

A plurality of U.S. adults from across party lines said that they think the vice president should enter the race: 47 percent are in favor of a run, 37 percent say he should stay out and 15 percent are unsure.

Clinton, the longtime front-runner, has seen her favorability numbers in the poll drop 10 points since April, when she announced her White House bid.

Meanwhile, Sanders has also closed the gap with Clinton in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, while Biden considers entering the race.

The poll of 1,001 U.S. adults, including 375 registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters, was conducted Sept. 18-21 with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points overall and 5.1 points for Democrats.