Sanders tops straw poll of progressives while Warren places fourth

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reportedly topped a straw poll of progressive PAC Democracy for America (DFA) members, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) finished in fourth.

The DFA poll, shared with The Hill, shows Sanders leading with the support of 36 percent of poll respondents, former Vice President Joe Biden in second with 15 percent and Rep. Beto O’Rourke in third with 12 percent.

Warren was the favorite for only 8 percent of members, despite being heavily supported by the DFA to run in 2016. She had received the support of 42 percent of DFA members in 2014.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Ca.) received the support of 7 percent of poll respondents, and no other candidate cleared 5 percent.

According to the DFA, members cast 94,000 votes between Nov. 29 and Dec. 23. 

“These results make clear that, while Bernie Sanders has a strong early lead, no single potential presidential candidate has full command of the Democratic Party’s progressive base heading into 2019,” the group’s incoming chief executive, Yvette Simpson, said in a statement.

“With more than 14 months before Iowa, we expect these results to change as grassroots progressives hear the messages the candidates are running on, see the campaigns executing on the ground, and watch them construct the broad-based coalition of the New American Majority of people of color and white progressive voters it will take to beat Donald Trump.”

The DFA will run further polls before endorsing any candidate.

The top three candidates in the poll, Sanders, Biden and O’Rourke, have been the top three in both recent national surveys and a poll of likely Iowan caucus-goers.

— Updated at 10:15 a.m.