Sanders leads Biden by single digits in North Carolina: poll

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) holds a slim lead in the North Carolina Democratic primary, according to a Meredith College poll released Friday morning.

The Vermont senator leads the race with 19.5 percent of registered voters polled, just barely ahead of former Vice President Joe Biden, who sits at 17.9 percent in the poll. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg sits just behind Biden with 17 percent.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg received 10.9 percent and 10 percent in the poll, respectively. No other candidate registered double-digit levels of support in the poll.

Sanders, Biden and Bloomberg all sit within the poll’s 3-percentage point margin of error, while 31 percent of those surveyed said they are not completely certain of their choice with just a few days left before votes are cast.

The polling is in line with other polls, as the RealClearPolitics average of polls in the state shows Sanders surging to a 1.3 point lead. Just two weeks ago, the same average had Biden in the lead by more than 6 points.

North Carolina is set to vote on Super Tuesday, when campaigns will be stretched thin across a number of high-delegate states including California and Texas, as well as nearly a dozen others.

The Meredith College poll was conducted with a population of 1,024 registered voters between Feb. 16-24. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.