Sanders Gains in Poll as He Pauses Campaigning for Impeachment

(Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders jumped seven percentage points in a new CNN poll and now is neck-and-neck with Joe Biden to lead the Democrats vying for the party’s presidential nomination.

Among registered Democrats, 27% said they are most likely to back the Vermont senator, an increase from a month ago, according to the poll conducted Jan. 16-19 and released Wednesday. Former Vice President Biden came in second with 24% of respondents, although the difference is within the poll’s margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.4 percentage points, meaning there is no clear leader.

Sanders and Biden were followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who like Sanders has left the campaign trail and returned to Washington for the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Warren had 14% and was followed by former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, with 11%. About 5% of the poll respondents said they were likely to support Michael Bloomberg, a figure that is unchanged from the previous month. Bloomberg is is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Read more: Sanders Rise Means More Talk About Electability Than Revolution

The poll did find a significant advantage for Biden -- about 45% of those surveyed said he has the best chance of beating Trump, with only 24% saying the same for Sanders. The other candidates ranked in the single digits.

This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.

To contact the author of this story: Laura Davison in Washington at ldavison4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kathleen Hunter at khunter9@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman

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