New poll catapults Buttigieg to frontrunner position in Iowa – By Marina Pitofsky (The Hill) / Nov 16 2019
Support among Iowa democratic voters for Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) spiked in a new poll released Saturday, with Buttigieg leading the crowded field of Democratic hopefuls.
Among “likely” Democratic voters in the Iowa caucus, 25 percent now say that Buttigieg is their first choice for president, a 16 percent boost since September, according to the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll. This is the first time in the poll that Buttigieg leads Biden, as well as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass).
“This is the first poll that shows Buttigieg as a stand-alone front-runner,” J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., the organization that conducted the poll, told the Des Moines Register. “There have been four candidates that have sort of jostled around in a pack together, but he has a sizable lead over the nearest contender — 9 points. So this is a new status for him.”
In the former polls, Warren was the frontrunner among Democratic Iowa voters, garnering 22 percent support in September. In the poll released Saturday, her support slipped to 16 percent. Biden and Sanders are both polling at 15 percent, although Biden slipped 5 points since the last poll, and Sanders’ support increased 4 points.
Explaining the recent polling surge, Buttigieg said he began to connect with Iowa voters on a new level after Labor Day.
Continue to article: https://thehill.com/campaign-polls/470799-buttigieg-rockets-to-frontrunner-in-iowa-poll
