Sanders Surges Ahead of Warren and Biden in California

With a ten-point jump since November, Sen. Bernie Sanders has surged to the lead in a California tracking poll less than two months before the state’s Democratic primary on Super Tuesday—March 3.

The tracking poll Public Policy Institute of California, which was last conducted in November, shows Sanders leading with  support of 27 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden with 24 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 23 percent.

With a margin of error of 6.5 percent, the poll revealed a statistically tight race among the top three candidates—though fourth place was occupied by former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg who garnered just 6 percent. The most striking feature in the trends was that while support for Warren and Biden has plateaued since Sen. Kamala Harris, who represents California, dropped out in early December, Sanders experienced a significant surge.

#NEW California @PPICNotes Poll:

Sanders 27% (+10 since last month)
Biden 24% (-)
Warren 23% (-)
Buttigieg 6% (-1)
Klobuchar 4% (+3)
Yang 3% (-2)https://t.co/sjVuKv43ja pic.twitter.com/HOOqDjf5XM

— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) January 14, 2020

“Sanders appears to have gained almost all of Kamala’s former supporters in California,” tweeted The Hill‘s Krystal Ball in response.

As other polls in California and nationwide have also shown, the California survey points to a massive advantage for Sanders among the youth vote while Biden—and to a lesser extent Warren—do better with older voters.

“Among younger voters (age 18–44), Sanders (45%) has much more support than Warren (25%) and Biden (12%),” the PPIC noted, “while voters age 45 and older favor Biden (32%) over Warren (22%) and Sanders (15%).”