Pete Buttigieg ‘Emerging As A Top Pick’ As He Claims The Top Spot In New Iowa Poll
As the large field of Democratic candidates continues to fight to capture ground in Iowa, the early-voting state that will kick-start the 2020 presidential election, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — once a complete long-shot candidate — secured the top spot in a new Iowa poll.
According to Fox News, a Monmouth University survey revealed on Tuesday indicated that Buttigieg claimed the highest level of support from likely Democratic caucus-goers in the Hawkeye State with 22 percent of support, narrowly edging out former Vice President Joe Biden, who was able to garner 19 percent.
The survey, which was conducted in the first week of November, included 451 voters in the state and had a plus or minus 4.6 percentage point margin of error.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has also experienced a noticeable surge in the polls on the heels of her solid Democratic debate performances and consistent policy roll-outs, was right behind Biden with 18 percent of support. Rounding out the top four was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who managed to grab 13 percent of support from Iowa caucus-goers.
Though Buttigieg’s victory over Biden technically fell within the survey’s margin of error, the win marks a monumental shift in opinion of the South Bend mayor from Iowa Democratic voters. In August’s iteration of the same poll, Buttigieg only managed to land 8 percent support. In contrast, Biden slipped seven points since the August version of the poll and Warren dropped two points.
Sanders was the only other top-tier candidate to make gains in the latest Monmouth University survey, notching up five points in November’s poll from his August number.
Patrick Murray, the director of Monmouth University’s polling division, provided a short take on what Buttigieg’s new polling numbers mean for the Iowa political landscape and pointed out that his support is surprisingly evenly-spread among the state’s demographics.
“Buttigieg is emerging as a top pick for a wide variety of Iowa Democrats. While he has made nominally bigger gains among older caucus-goers, you really can’t pigeonhole his support to one particular group. He is doing well with voters regardless of education or ideology,” Murray said.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Buttigieg’s surge was apparent as early as October, when a Washington Post/ABC News poll revealed that in a hypothetical match-up with President Donald Trump, Buttigieg bested the president by 11 points, joining Biden, Warren, and Sanders as the candidates with double-digit advantages.
Should Buttigieg secure the Democratic party’s nomination and emerge victorious over Trump in November 2020, he would make history as the first openly gay United States president.
