Bernie Sanders Takes The Lead In Key Early 2020 Voting State As Joe Biden’s Support Plummets

Bernie Sanders is surging in one key early voting state, and Joe Biden is taking a nose dive.

A newly released CNN poll shows that the Vermont Senator is tops in neighboring New Hampshire, a key early state on the 2020 Democratic primary schedule. The poll showed that Sanders topped the field with 21 percent support, followed by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren with 18 percent.

Biden, who had 24 percent support in the last poll CNN took in New Hampshire, fell by nine percentage points to 15 percent support. As the report noted, Biden’s sharp and sudden drop has cleared up the picture a bit in the state that votes second.

“Biden’s decline is the main change at the top of the new poll; the July survey found no clear leader, with Biden, Sanders and Warren all landing within the poll’s margin of sampling error,” the report noted, adding that both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were mostly holding steady with their previous results in the poll.

The performance could be especially important for Bernie Sanders, who earlier this month had to take time off the campaign trail after suffering a heart attack. There was some worry that the health scare could lead to a drop in the polls for Sanders, but the latest round of polling shows that he remains among the three frontrunners with now just more than two months until the first voting takes place.

Sanders returned to the campaign trail with a major rally in Queens that drew more than 20,000 people — one of the biggest events from any candidate this campaign season. As The Associated Press reported, Sanders tried to put any fears about his health to rest as he declared he was “more ready than ever” to fight for a political revolution.

“To put it bluntly, I am back,” Sanders said.

“I am happy to report to you that I am more than ready — more ready than ever — to carry on with you on the epic struggle that we face today. I am more than ready to assume the office of president of the United States.”

The drop from Joe Biden has been one of the other significant developments of the Democratic primary campaign season. Biden has been seen as the race’s frontrunner and still tops most national polls, but his decline has allowed both Sanders and Warren to pick up ground and led to a more wide-open race ahead of the first voting in early 2020.