Pete Buttigieg surges in Iowa poll

 

A new Iowa survey of the 2020 Democratic presidential contest shows Pete Buttigieg surging in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, locked in a three-way race with frontrunners Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.

Eighteen percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers back the former vice president, while 17 percent favour the Massachusetts senator and 13 percent prefer the South Bend, Indiana, mayor, according to a Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lost the 2016 caucuses to Hillary Clinton by less than 1 percentage point, achieved 9 percent support in the poll.

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Four candidates garnered 3 percent: billionaire Tom Steyer, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, California Sen. Kamala Harris and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Still, 29 percent of caucus-goers say they remain undecided.

The poll was conducted in the days after the fourth Democratic debate, during which Buttigieg adopted a more aggressive posture and accused Warren of equivocating on the cost of her Medicare For All proposal.

Other recent Iowa surveys — including a CBS/YouGov poll conducted before the debate and several state-wide polls in September — have also had Buttigieg in either the high single-digits or low double-digits.

In the last several weeks, Buttigieg has sought to establish himself as a pragmatic alternative to primary voters unmoved by Warren’s brand of progressive populism and reluctant to embrace the more moderate Biden, whose standing in public polling has begun to diminish.

Via Politico