Former Vice President Joe Biden maybe reaping the benefits of a full-court press against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), moving upward in primary state polls for the first time since November.
Biden is now back in the lead in Florida — a state Biden must win to stay in the race — and has extended his lead in South Carolina from a mere four points just a week ago to twenty points in a Monmouth poll released on Thursday.
After winning the Nevada Caucuses, Sanders emerged as the de facto field leader, snapping up three wins in a row in the first three primary contests — Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. But with Sanders’ new front-runner status came a wave of criticism and opposition research, some of it pushed by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is hoping to be the “moderate” alternative to Sanders in the general election, but some of it pressed by Democrats who are fearful that Sanders is weak against President Donald Trump and that his “Democratic socialism” will scare voters.
More “moderate” candidates in the field should be benefitting from revelations about Sanders’ past, his enduring love for brutal dictators, and his plan to raise taxes on nearly every American to pay for multiple million-dollar programs, and Biden seems to be the candidate of choice for those moving away from the Vermont socialist.
In Florida, Biden and Bloomberg are now ahead of Sanders, per The Hill.
“Former Vice President Joe Biden is reclaiming his front-runner status in Florida, according to a survey released on Thursday by St. Pete Polls,” the outlet reported Thursday. “The poll shows Biden pulling ahead of the pack in the Sunshine State with 35 percent support. Meanwhile, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg fell into second place with 25 percent support.”
Sanders is running a “distant third” to the duo of “moderates,” out of favor with Florida’s older population, which fears Sanders’ plan to put everyone on Medicare, thus dramatically impacing their healthcare.
The real news, though, is in South Carolina. There, Biden’s lead had been slowly shrinking as Sanders moved up the ranks, first to ten points and then, most recently, to a mere four points — inside the margin of error — in a Quinnipiac poll released last week. It looked almost as if Sanders, now predicted to be unstoppable, was going to break Biden’s “firewall” state and steamroll into the Democratic nomination.
Politico reports that Biden is now “crushing” Sanders in South Carolina by an astounding twenty points.
“Joe Biden has a massive lead over Bernie Sanders and the rest of the Democratic presidential hopefuls in South Carolina, according to a Monmouth University poll published Thursday,” the outlet said. “The poll, released two days before the crucial first-in-the-South primary, shows Biden with an advantage of 20 percentage points over Sanders, 36 percent to 16 percent.”
The Monmouth poll also shows Tom Steyer with his best showing ever — a possible third place finish just one point behind Sanders.
The best news for Biden, though, may be that he’s doing extremely well with African-American voters, a contingent that Sanders suffers so badly with, he’s trying to earn their support by teaming up with rap group, Public Enemy, for a show in Los Angeles, California ahead of Super Tuesday.
Biden likely hopes that a win in South Carolina propels him upward for Super Tuesday. Currently, Sanders is expected to post big wins in big states in the March 3rd mega-contest, according to FiveThirtyEight.