California poll shows Biden, Sanders, Warren bunched atop Democratic field

Former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the crowded Democratic primary pack in California, followed closely by progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), according to a new CNN poll.

Twenty-one percent of likely Democratic primary voters in the Golden State said they supported Biden, while 20 percent backed Sanders and 17 percent threw their support behind Warren.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) and businessman Andrew Yang trailed the front-runners with 9 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who jumped into the race last month, polled at 5 percent. The billionaire candidate has focused on Super Tuesday states like California instead of early contest states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

Other surveys have found a tight race taking shape ahead of California’s March 3 primary.

A Los Angeles Times poll released last week showed Sanders in the lead with 24 percent, with Warren at 22 percent.

California plays a crucial role in the Democratic nominating process because it doles out the most delegates for the nominating convention with its winner-take-all primary.

Biden, Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg are the top four candidates nationally, according to several polls.

The CNN survey in California was conducted among 1,203 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Among the 508 likely Democratic primary voters polled in the state, the margin of sampling error was 5.2 points.