Joe Biden Leads in Super Tuesday Polls as Michael Bloomberg Struggles

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Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Joe Biden (D) is leading in Super Tuesday states, while Michael Bloomberg (D), whose bid is relying on a Super Tuesday strategy, is struggling to gain top tier status, the CBS News Battleground Tracker released over the weekend indicates.

The poll, which surveyed 21,461 registered voters in 14 Super Tuesday states December 3-11, 2019, showed the former vice president leading the crowded field with 28 percent support. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) fell closely behind with 25 percent overall, and Sen. Bernie Sanders came in third place with 20 percent support. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) came in fourth place, down by double digits with nine percent support. The margin of error is +/- 1.3 percent:

While the vast majority of Democrat presidential candidates are focusing primarily on the first four early primary and caucus states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina — Bloomberg is using the bulk of his resources to target Super Tuesday states. However, his efforts are not reflecting in the polls, as he has failed to garner a top tier status, coming in fifth place with four percent support. That is lower than his national RealClearPolitics average of 4.8 percent.

More Democrats, 41 percent, continue to believe that Biden stands the best chance of defeating President Trump in 2020, while 33 percent chose Sanders, and 30 percent chose Warren. Bloomberg faced yet another blow in that department, as only 17 percent expressed confidence that he could “probably” beat the president in a general election matchup.

According to CBS News, Bloomberg tends to do better among Democrats who believe the party is going “too liberal.” In other words, he performs better among moderate Democrats, many of whom tend to gravitate toward Biden, who has positioned himself as the alternative to a radically leftist candidate like Sanders or Warren.

However, “those voters are heavily outnumbered: just 22% of Democrats actually think the party is becoming too liberal, while most say they like the ideological direction the party is headed,” according to CBS News:

To the extent Bloomberg has support, he’s primarily drawn from former Biden backers. Moderate and conservative Democrats are more inclined than liberal Democrats to like that he entered the race. At the moment, Bloomberg’s wealth may be more of a hindrance than a help, especially among the more liberal wing of the party. About half — in particular, Warren and Sanders backers — believe it shows rich people can have too much influence in politics. Just over a third either say they believe his personal spending on the campaign shows his “dedication” to the effort or independence from big donors.

Bloomberg also faces another issue. Just less than half of Democrats, 49 percent, say the pre-Super Tuesday caucuses and primaries will show “who the real contenders are” — another bad sign for a candidate focusing solely on Super Tuesday states while virtually ignoring Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

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