Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are locked in a tie in Iowa atop the large field of Democrats running for the presidential nomination. An Iowa Starting Line/Change Research Poll of 615 likely Democratic caucus-goers that was conducted this past week, May 15 to May 19, found both Biden and Sanders garnering 24% among the Democratic candidates. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 3.9%.
Three contenders trailed the leaders with healthy percentages of support: Pete Buttigieg at 14%, Elizabeth Warren at 12%, and Kamala Harris at 10%. Beto O’Rourke came in at 5%, while Amy Klobuchar and Andrew Yang both had 2%. Everyone else polled at 1% or less.
In most national polling, Biden was blowing away the rest of the Democratic field in the immediate weeks after his announcement. A national CNN poll at the end of April had Biden up 24 points over the next closest Democrat; a Fox News national survey put Biden up 18 last week.
But here in Iowa, it’s a much closer contest for Biden. Part of that is due to Sanders’ residual strength here from his 2016 run and remaining volunteer network. In this survey, 45% of those polled who said they caucused for Sanders in 2016 list him as their first choice in the caucus. Given the expansive primary field, retaining even just around half of his former support in the caucus may be enough to get to a win.
Biden, though, still polls well in most categories for Democrats. 37% of likely caucus-goers’ feelings were “very favorable” toward Biden. Only Warren (40% very favorable) and Sanders (39% very favorable) polled higher. Democrats view him as the most “likable” candidate – when asked to select five candidates who they viewed as likable, 67% included Biden in their choices (Buttigieg was second at 56%). And 71% selected Biden as one of the five candidates the respondents thought were most likely to defeat Donald Trump in the general election.
Biden leads Sanders in the 65+ age range, 30% to 15% (Buttigieg is actually second here with 17%). Sanders dominates the 18-34 age group, taking 41% of that cohort. Warren is second there with 16% and Biden and Buttigieg are both at third with 9%.
Sanders’ support skews male, with 29% of men and 19% of women choosing him. Biden has the support of 26% of women and 21% of men. Both Warren (14% women, 10% men) and Harris (11% women, 7% men) are boosted by female voters. O’Rourke’s support comes from 7% of men and 4% of women.
There were some notable divides on other fronts. Biden captured 34% of the Catholic vote. Sanders came in first with non-religious voters at 28%. Buttigieg’s support leans toward wealthier and the highly-educated. He came in second in the $100,000+ income bracket, winning 19% of that to Biden’s 24%. Biden dominates the group of Iowans who watch three or more hours of cable news a day, taking 46% of that.
The Iowa Starting Line/Change Research Poll is part of the 2020 Change series of polls, and was conducted online and is quite extensive. It’s obviously rather difficult to poll a field this large, especially when many caucus-goers like multiple candidates. Fortunately, Change Research asked several questions where poll-takers could pick up to five separate candidates for specific questions. That produced some insightful results.
Here’s the many other interesting findings, including plenty of good news for several candidates who didn’t top the horserace question.
Elizabeth Warren’s Underlying Strength
If you read the rest of the poll before looking at the horserace numbers, you might think that Warren would come in first or second. She scores top marks among Democratic caucus-goers on a number of fronts. Warren gets a 40% “very favorable” rating, higher than anyone else. Combining her “very favorable” and “somewhat favorable” numbers puts her at 78% favorable, a significant jump ahead of Sanders’ next-closest 71%.
“Good news for Elizabeth Warren: her favorability exceeds that of any other candidate in the race and her name recognition is near universal,” Loria observed. “In some states, we see a large spread between the front-runners and the so-called second-tier in the excitement barometer, but in Iowa the candidates are all pretty tightly clustered. When we ask respondents to identify the five candidates they’re most excited about, 54% say Warren, followed by Biden (53%), then Harris (53%), Sanders (49%), and Buttigieg (46%).”
Warren also leads the rest of the Democrats in three other poll questions, when asked which candidates caucus-goers describe as “smart,” as “tough,” and as “honest and ethical.”
And Warren’s support is not dependent on one slice of the electorate. Her favorability numbers stay relatively even among age groups – 36% of 18-34, 38% of 35-49, 41% of 50-64, and 43% of 65+ of those polled said they view her very favorably. Compare that to Sanders, where 63% of the 18-34 age group rates him very favorably, while only 28% of the 65+ age group does so. Biden has the opposite issue, where 47% of the 65+ group has him as very favorable, when just 20% of the 18-34 age group feels that way.
Both women and men equally list Warren as one of the candidates they’re excited about (54% each). The same is true of different education levels, and even whether someone caucused for Sanders or Clinton in 2016. That could point to Warren being a unifying force in the Democratic primary; were she to win, it doesn’t look like one group of Democrats would feel particularly left out.
Where she runs into issues may be a controversial subject. When asked which candidates they view as “likable,” Warren falls down into sixth place at 40%, behind Biden at 67%, Buttigieg at 56%, Sanders at 45%, O’Rourke at 43%, and Harris at 41%. Warren also slips to fourth place when asked which of the candidates are most likely to defeat Trump in the general election. Biden, Sanders, and Harris lead her there. Those are the only areas in the poll where Warren struggles.
Interestingly, Warren still receives the highest favorability and excitement numbers despite this. It seems that perhaps Democratic caucus-goers themselves really like Warren, but they’re worried that other voters may not.
Second Choices
With viability rules in the Iowa Caucus (in most precincts, a candidate needs to get to 15% to be viable and receive delegates), Iowans’ second-choices are important. Again on this front, Warren does well. She is the top second-choice candidate at 19%. The top five are:
Warren: 19%
Biden: 16%
Harris: 15%
Sanders: 14%
Buttigieg: 11%
Warren is the biggest beneficiary of Sanders supporters’ second choice, with 35% of first-choice Sanders backers listing Warren as their backup option. Gabbard is the second choice of 12% of Sanders supporters.
25% of Biden supporters have Harris as their second choice, while 24% go with Sanders and 14% to Buttigieg. 28% of Buttigieg’s support goes to Biden for the second choice, and 23% of Harris’ support picks Buttigieg as their second choice.
Still Room To Grow For Buttigieg?
Buttigieg finds himself in a solid third place in this poll, about where he’s been in several surveys since really taking off in March. The current concern is that he might be leveling off there, but there’s some signs he has more opportunities to grow. What’s interesting here is how much likely caucus-goers have heard about him – 41% said they’ve read or seen “a lot” about him. Meanwhile, 76% said they’ve read or seen a lot about Biden, 78% about Sanders, and 62% for Warren.
Potential For Booker
Booker sits at a mere 1% in the horserace poll, but his name pops up often in the other questions. 26% of likely caucus-goers listed him as a candidate they were most excited about, enough for seventh place in that rating. He’s in sixth on which candidates people list as “smart,” sixth on the “tough” question, seventh on “likable,” “honest and ethical,” and likely to defeat Trump. In almost all of those questions, he’s getting support in the 20s and 30s of percentages, a clear separation from most other candidates who join him in the 0% to 2% club on the caucus first-choice question. Those underlying qualities suggest he may be well-positioned to move up at some point.
Harris Starts Off Well-Liked
A lot of Iowans really like Harris, even if they haven’t seen as much coverage of her. Her combined favorability is 70%, behind only Warren (78%) and Sanders (71%). Only 7% said they haven’t heard of her, although just 35% have read or seen “a lot” about her, lower than most of those high up in the horserace numbers. And Iowa caucus-goers are especially excited for her candidacy, with 53% listing her as one they’re excited for. That’s essentially tied at the top with Warren (54%) and Biden (53%).
The Poll
by Pat Rynard
Photos by Julie Fleming
Posted 5/20/19
25 Comments on "Starting Line/Change Research Poll: Biden, Sanders Locked In Iowa Tie"
The chart is amazing – The two oldest are at the top when the Democrat party is looking for “new, younger leadership, not old white men”! Big drop afterwards – Buttigieg is riding high at the time on his “first couple” in the White House and then we have Elizabeth Warren whom some say is unlikable? Stacey Abrams the unrepentant loser in the Georgia Governor’s race is over Kirsten Gillibrand? I do believe the Democrats are in fantasy land and know not where or what is going on.
And Biden’s campaign manager is on record saying we don’t need white people running the Democrat party. Hilarious!
Two losers tied to lose. What a yuk.
Glad to see Joe and Bernie bringing the crowds. It’ll be wonderful to see the P*ssy-grabber in Chief thrown out of office.
Dream on. Not going to happen.
You’re delusional. Bernie will get killed by the mere fact that he wants felons to vote. All Pres. Trump will have to do is throw up pictures of famous felons and say things like, “Bernie Sanders wants the Boston Bomber to be eligible to vote.”
You prefer a guy who touches and sniffs teenaged girls without their consent over a guy who likes to touch full grown women with their consent?
It’s the Blind leading the Partially Sighted.
Ask yourself; Is Bernie going to wait in line with me to get universal health care?
The poll surveyed only 615 Iowa Dems and occurred during a time of confusion within the party. There is too much info about each candidate and the average voter cannot process all
of the candidates’ ideas and policies. Wait for a final poll next May before jumping on the
bandwagon. It may come down to personalities and emotion instead of policies.
Either one of those 2 idiots is going to get slaughtered in 2020.
Go Bernie. Make’em feel the Bern. I support you over Sleepy Joe.
Great information! !!! And very insightful. I’m amazed at how much focus the media puts on “national” polls when in reality the focus should be on state polls in Iowa, NH, and SC. Biden reminds me a lot of Mondale. I remember telling the locals that Gary Hart was the guy in ’84 while Mondale raked in every union endorsement. Ole Fritz was a 49 state loser.
another meaningless poll in an ocean of such clutter.
It’s all fun and games until one of them gets in the same room with Trump!
I don’t believe in polls! I believe in what the crowds tell us! Bernie is getting more attendance in crowd size to his event than ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES COMBINED!!! And that is that fact that scares the DNC, the corporate ran media and the corporations that control the DNC and the damned dem$!
If Bernie is not the rightful nominee this time, as he was in 2016, then expect for the DNC and the damned dem$ to be utterly destroyed as the cheating political party they are. Will I be voting for the fifth time a 3rd party candidate for President? You better believe it if Bernie is not the candidate. To hell with the damned dem$! It is time for the Progressives to take over! WE ARE THE MAJORITY!
No, you are not the majority and if you throw a tantrum again and vote for someone with no ability to win or do the job and Trump is re-elected you will find your special self increasingly isolated as people with sense start to shun you.
The DNC knows not to use the Super Delegates to cheat Bernie again, if they do, it will be their fault to loose during the general election.
#Bernie2020
Why is the Bernie bar shorter than the Biden bar even though they are both 24%? Seems like outright cheerleading to me.
It’s a decimal point difference, folks. Which, if this was cheerleading for Biden, then we’d use that decimal point to say that Biden has a narrow lead. This is literally the best poll for Sanders out there in weeks. Enough with the conspiracy theories
intersting that the leading woman in the field is the only one without a last name in the polling data. misogyny or familiarity? both?
Why is the bar for Biden’s 24% taller than the one for Sanders’ 24%?
This needs to be corrected so that it shows that they candidates are EVEN.
The poll is worthless in terms of predicting the outcome of the caucuses. There is no way of securing a good sample of those that will actually show up on caucus night—other than asking people if they will or will not and/or have they attended in the past. Given required level of support to be viable, the large number of candidates I the field favors Sanders and Warren on the basis of organization and understanding of how caucus politics is played—supporters of non-viable candidates have by their choice indicated that they are not a part of the Democratic Party establishment and are either going to switch to a viable non-establishment candidate like Sanders and Warren, or sit it out and go home. The last time Sanders got edge out on caucus night by savvy establishment Democrats who favored Hillary Clinton—that is not again going to play out for Biden. Were somehow the national nomination to be won by Biden liberal-progressive party members are not going to do what they did in the past and hold their noses and vote for him—they will either vote third party or write in the name of the candidate they favor most. Why? Because the nation got where we are today because of the Democratic Party establishment standing for nothing and thus delivering no important change in service to and involvement of WE THE PEOPLE.