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ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL: 2020 Politics
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AFTER 6 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020
Sanders and Bloomberg Rise, Biden Falls
With Sharp Shifts in Views of Electability
Bernie Sanders has soared and Joe Biden’s crashed in national preference for the Democratic
nomination for president, while the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary helped to clear
some running room for a candidate who’s not yet been on the ballot:

Mike Bloomberg.
Sanders advanced to 32 percent support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents
in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, up 8 percentage points from late January. Biden
fell to 17 percent, down 11 points to his lowest of the campaign. And Bloomberg, who takes the
stage for the first time in tonight’s debate in Nevada, now has 14 percent support, up 6 points.
By contrast, there’s been little if any movement for Pete Buttigieg, a strong finisher in both early
contests; Amy Klobuchar, third in New Hampshire; or Elizabeth Warren, who fell short in both.
Warren has 11 percent support nationally, unchanged; Buttigieg, 7; and Klobuchar, 6.

Sanders’ newfound 15-point lead over Biden nearly doubles Biden’s biggest lead of the
campaign, 8 points over Sanders in early September. That said, the most dramatic shifts aren’t in
vote preferences but in views of who has the best chance to defeat Donald Trump in November.
Electability’s been a cornerstone of Biden’s campaign, yet just 19 percent now say he’s likeliest
to win, sliced in half from 38 percent in January. Instead 30 percent of leaned Democrats now
see Sanders as most electable, up 12 points, and 18 percent say this about Bloomberg, up 10
points. The rest of the field is in single digits on the question.