The Democrat primary race is heating up in California, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Joe Biden (D) tying for first place and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) falling to fifth place behind Andrew Yang (D) in her home state, according to California Emerson College poll results released this week.
California Emerson College surveyed 830 registered voters between September 13 and 16, 2019, and found both Sanders and Biden tied for first place in the Golden State with 26 percent support each. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) came in just six points behind with 20 percent support. Harris did not come close to the top tier of candidates in her home state, falling to fifth place with six percent support after being surpassed by Yang, who garnered seven percent support. Harris found herself sandwiched in with the remaining candidates, who fell closely behind. Beto O’Rourke (D) saw five percent support in the state, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) saw four percent support, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) garnered three percent. The remaining candidates saw two percent support or less.
Harris’s continued struggle to gain support in her own state – and on a national scale – continues to spell trouble for the presidential hopeful.
“Senator Kamala Harris is in trouble in her home state. If she is unable to gain momentum in Iowa or New Hampshire, come Super Tuesday she might have a similar fate to Sen. Marco Rubio in 2016, when he was unable to win his home state of Florida and dropped out of the race,” Emerson Polling Director Spencer Kimball said.
A post-Houston debate poll released by Morning Consult suggested that Harris’s debate performance failed to dazzle voters, showing the California lawmaker with just six percent support.
FIRST Post-Debate @MorningConsult National Poll:
Biden 32%
Sanders 20%
Warren 18%
Harris 6%
Buttigieg 5%
O'Rourke 4%
Booker 3%
Yang 3%
Klobuchar 2%
Bullock/Castro/Delaney/Gabbard/Ryan/Steyer/Williamson 1%https://t.co/4yvasP7L8F— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) September 16, 2019
Sanders’ performance in California is also emblematic of his performance in recent national polls, with the same Morning Consult poll showing Sanders in second place, two points ahead of Warren.
According to Emerson polling, Sanders’ surge in California can be largely attributed to voters under the age of 50. The socialist senator is seeing 34 percent of their support, according to the poll:
Driving support for Sanders is younger voters under the age of 50. He leads those voters with 34% of their support, followed by Warren at 18%, Biden at 16% and Yang at 11%. Sanders also has strong support from the Hispanic population of California, leading that group with 36%, followed by Biden with 23%, Warren with 19% and Buttigieg with 7%.
Among voters age 50 or over, Biden leads with 40% support, followed by Warren with 23%, Sanders with 13% and O’Rourke with 8%.
The poll’s margin of error is +/- 3.3 percent.
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