Biden Jumps To A 15 Point Lead Over Sanders In South Carolina

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:56 am

A new poll shows former vice president Joe Biden leading Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by 15 points in South Carolina.

Via Public Policy Polling:

PPP’s newest poll of Democratic primary voters in South Carolina finds it looking like a two person race, with only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders reaching double digits in their support. Biden gets 36% to 21% for Sanders, with Elizabeth Warren at 8%, Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer at 7%, Tulsi Gabbard at 6%, and Amy Klobuchar at 3% rounding out the field.

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Other recent polls have found Steyer’s support in the 15-20% range. If he has indeed collapsed, as our poll seems to suggest, it appears his former supporters are making their way to Biden and helping him to open a bigger lead in the state. The key to Biden’s success continues to be strong support from African Americans- he gets 50% to 21% for Sanders, with no one else polling above 6%.

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Biden is the only candidate with more than a 50% favorability rating. He comes in at 61/20. Sanders is at 47/35, Warren at 46/31, Steyer at 45/24, Buttigieg at 41/35, and Klobuchar at 39/26.

No other candidate is going to come out of South Carolina with delegates, besides Biden and Sanders, if this poll is accurate. If Steyer is on the decline, it should mean the end of his campaign, and Buttigieg and Klobuchar’s single-digit showings should be a sign to both of them, especially Klobuchar, that she has no path forward.

If Sanders loses to Biden by double-digits and gets crushed with African-Americans, it will put an end to the story of Sen. Sanders’s “expanding coalition.” A big Biden win in South Carolina would shake up the race beneath Sanders and could be the first step in adding clarity to the muddled Democratic field.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association