Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are in a virtual tie among Latino voters in Nevada just days ahead of the state’s caucuses, according to a new poll.
The survey, conducted by Mason-Dixon polling and the Telemundo media group, found Biden with 34 percent and Sanders at 31 percent, within the poll’s 4 percentage point margin of error.
Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg was a distant third at at 7 percent, followed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) at 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
Biden and Sanders garnered support from different age groups among Latinos in the Nevada poll, which showed Biden receiving about 40 percent support from respondents older than 50, compared with Sanders’s 23 percent for that group. Sanders had 43 percent support from respondents under 50, while Biden received 26 percent.
The poll surveyed 625 registered Latino voters in Nevada from Feb. 10-12. The Nevada caucuses are set to take place on Saturday.
An earlier statewide poll by the Las Vegas Review-Journal and AARP Nevada found that 25 percent of likely caucusgoers of all demographics supported Sanders, followed by Biden at 18 percent.
The nominating contest is seen by many as the first test of how Democratic presidential candidates will fair among people of color, particularly Latinos, who make up almost 30 percent of the state’s population.
The Sanders campaign has devoted a significant amount of resources to engaging Latino voters. On Tuesday, Mijente, a prominent left-leaning Latino group, endorsed Sanders.
According to a recent study, more Latinos in Nevada contributed to the Sanders campaign than to any other candidate, including Biden.