Biden maintains lead on Sanders, Warren: poll

Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a lead over his fellow Democratic presidential contenders as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) battle for second place, according to a new NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll.

Of respondents who identified as Democratic voters, 28 percent voiced their support for Biden in the survey, while Sanders followed with 21 percent. Warren was third with 18 percent support. 

Meanwhile, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who experienced a surge in the polls last month, garnered 9 percent support and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg rounded out the top six, bringing in 5 percent and 4 percent support, respectively. 

Biden has maintained his front-runner status throughout the primary campaign, but a number of recent polls have shown Sanders surging to second place, while Warren has slipped. 

The polls come ahead of the final campaign stretch before the crucial Iowa caucuses in February. An Emerson College poll released last week showed Biden neck-and-neck with Sanders in the Hawkeye State, with Biden garnering 23 percent support and Sanders at 22 percent. 

Biden and Sanders will come face-to-face on Thursday in Los Angeles for the sixth Democratic primary debate. 

The NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll was conducted Dec. 14-17 among 410 likely Democratic primary voters. The poll’s margin of error is 4.84 percentage points.