Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg — who are essentially at opposite ends of the ideological scale on the left side of the political aisle, both received encouraging news for their 2020 presidential campaigns on Tuesday in the form of a New Hampshire poll.
According to The Hill , Sanders scored an important, first-place win in a newly-released Emerson College poll in which he garnered 26 percent of support from the 549 Democratic voters in the state who took the survey. Buttigieg also had an impressive showing that revealed his recent surge in the polls is far from a fluke, coming in second with 22 percent of support in the Granite State.
Interestingly enough, those numbers are exactly double the number that both Sanders and Buttigieg scored in a September iteration of the poll, revealing that voters in the critical state of New Hampshire might be looking away from the traditional front-runners in the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination.
Unfortunately for former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren — both of whom typically lead a majority of polls — the two tied for third place in the poll with 14 percent of support. Not only that, but their new number reveals a significant drop in support from a September version of the poll.
To be exact, Biden’s new level of support in the New Hampshire poll is a 10-point drop from September, while Warren suffered a seven-point slip.
The Director of the Emerson College polling unit, Spencer Kimball, explained why he believes Warren and Biden are now being outshone by Buttigieg and Sanders.
“The Democratic voters have taken a look at Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren and they appear unsatisfied at this time which brought some voters back to Bernie Sanders while others are now moving to a fresh face in Pete Buttigieg, this demonstrates the fluidity of the race,” Kimball said.
Both of the leading candidates, at least partially, can contribute their good fortune in the polls from two very different age demographics. Sanders received top marks from voters under 50, while Buttigieg did the best overall with voters over 50-years-old, beating all other candidates in that demographic.
Not surprisingly, liberal voters backed Sanders and voters in the somewhat liberal to moderate range picked Buttigieg as the candidate they’re backing.
News of Sanders’ first-place showing comes amid reports that people close to former President Barack Obama indicated that he’s willing to intervene in the primary if Sanders begins to look like a sure bet with voters, as reported by The Inquisitr .
“Back when Sanders seemed like more of a threat than he does now, Obama said privately that if Bernie were running away with the nomination, Obama would speak up to stop him,” the report said.
