Already buoyed by his good results in Iowa, independent senator Bernie Sanders for the first time beat former vice president Joe Biden in a national benchmark poll published Monday, which also records a spectacular surge by billionaire Michael Bloomberg. The results mark a " dramatic turning point in the race " to clinch the Democratic nomination and challenge Republican President Donald Trump on November 3, notes Quinnipiac University, which conducted the poll.
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It is the first time that the socialist Bernie Sanders (25%) comes before the moderate Joe Biden (17%) in his national opinion poll. Behind them, ex-mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg jumped to third place (15%), a remarkable increase compared to the 8% recorded by Quinnipiac at the end of January. And all the more remarkable since this ex-republican and ex-independent is not campaigning in the first states which vote for the primaries in February. It compensates by sprinkling copious amounts of self-funded ads to the states that will vote from " Super Tuesday " on March 3 when it enters the fray.
He is followed by progressive senator Elizabeth Warren (14%) then by young ex-mayor Pete Buttigieg (10%), who has been on the rise since his victory, on the wire, in Iowa on February 3. Carried out just after this chaotic vote, from February 5 to 9, with democratic voters or close to the party (margin of error of 3.8 percentage points), the Quinnipiac poll gives only 4% to moderate senator Amy Klobuchar .
" Biden's fourth-place finish in Iowa has clearly eroded what was his biggest strength ": the perception that he was most likely to beat Donald Trump, said Tim Malloy of Quinnipiac University. " Is Camp Bloomberg preparing his white horse to come to the rescue?" Perhaps not yet, but without setting foot in Iowa or New Hampshire (which votes Tuesday, note), its shadow now floats above the primaries, "he judges.
In a possible duel against Donald Trump, all the main candidates arrive victorious, according to Quinnipiac University. But the advances are more or less comfortable (margin of error of 2.5 points), led by Bloomberg (51% against 42% for Trump), Sanders (51% against 43%) and Biden (50% against 43% ). The centrist Klobuchar (49% against 43%) slightly ahead of the progressive Warren (48% against 44%) against Donald Trump, Buttigieg arriving next (47% against 43%).
