Former Vice President Joe Biden’s national lead over socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders exploded to 24 percent, according to a new Morning Consult poll.
The poll of 2,072 Democratic primary voters found 59 percent of respondents would vote for Biden if the election were held today compared to just 35 percent who chose Sanders.
There is also a “generational divide” among Democrats–with 55 percent of voters under age 45 backing Sanders and 74 percent over 45 years of age supporting Biden.
Biden also leads Sanders by 39 points among black voters–67 percent to 29 percent. Among Suburban voters, 62 percent prefer Biden compared to just 32 percent who choose Sanders.
As the Wuhan coronavirus threat looms over the United States, the polling firm found that Democratic primary voters prefer Biden over Sanders when it comes to crisis management:
“…a recent Morning Consult poll finds voters favor Biden to Sanders when it comes to crisis management: A majority (55 percent) of Democratic primary voters and roughly 2 in 5 registered voters said they trust Biden over Sanders for leadership during a crisis, regardless of whom they were supporting in the race. Voters who helped elect President Donald Trump in 2016 were also roughly twice as likely to say Biden would be better for handling a crisis than Sanders.”
Despite these lackluster numbers for Sanders and few primary wins thusfar, yesterday he vowed to continue his presidential campaign, claiming he is encouraged because polls show strong support for his “progressive agenda” and cited support for his health care and climate change policies.
Sanders also claims he is “winning the generational debate” with voters.
“While Joe Biden continues to do very well with older Americans, especially those people over 65, our campaign continues to win the vast majority of votes of younger people,” he said.
“Today, I say to the Democratic establishment: In order to win in the future, you need to win the voters who represent the future of our country, and you must speak to the issues of concern to them,” he continued.
Sanders and Biden will face off in a debate on Sunday which the DNC has moved from a live audience in Phoenix, AZ to a CNN studio in Washington, D.C. with no audience due to the Wuhan coronavirus.
