Former Vice President Joe Biden has a 19 percentage point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential race, according to a new national poll released Monday.
Biden, coming off a strong performance last week on Super Tuesday, has the support of 54 percent of Democrats and independents leaning Democratic, while Sanders is the choice of 35 percent of the group, the Quinnipiac University poll shows.
The survey also found that Biden is seen as more favorable by voters than Sanders.
Seventy-seven percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters have a favorable opinion of Biden and 13 percent see him as unfavorable – while Sanders has a 71 percent favorability and a 17 percent unfavorable rating.
The new national poll was released as the two Democratic candidates are gearing up for primary elections in six states on Tuesday — Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Washington, Idaho and North Dakota.
Biden swept 10 of the 14 states that went to the polls on Super Tuesday, March 3, including pulling off upsets in Massachusetts and Texas, and emerged with more delegates than Sanders, despite his winning delegate-rich California.
Sanders has said that his campaign is looking to rebound in Michigan, which has 125 delegates up for grabs, but the poll numbers suggest he may have a tough row to hoe.
“It’s down to two and looks very much like the Biden resurgence could be a fatal blow to the Sanders revolution,” said Quinnipiac University Poll Analyst Tim Malloy.
Looking ahead at possible matchup for the general election, Biden leads President Trump 52-41 percent among registered voters and Sanders leads the incumbent by 49 to 42 percent.
Biden also leads Sanders in the favorability ratings among registered voters.
The former veep has a 45 percent favorability rating and a 40 percent unfavorable rating. Sanders is 46 percent unfavorable and 40 percent favorable.
Trump has a 58 percent unfavorable rating and a 39 favorable rating in the poll.
The poll taken amid the coronavirus outbreak that is rapidly spreading around the globe shows that Biden beats Trump 56 to 40 percent on the ability to handle a crisis, while Sanders tops Trump 50 to 44 percent.
But the president gets high marks on his handling of the economy – with 54 percent approving and 42 percent disapproving.
The poll was conducted March 5 to March 8 and surveyed 1,261 registered voters and 559 Democrats and independent voters who lean Democrat.
The survey of registered voters has a plus/minus 2.8 percentage points margin of error while the poll of Democrats and independents has a plus/minus 4.2 percentage points margin of error.
