Winthrop Poll: Joe Biden still top pick of SC Democrats but challengers closing in
With South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary about a week away, former Vice President Joe Biden is still the top choice among likely Democratic voters in the Palmetto State.
But a new Winthrop University poll suggests that Biden’s challengers, particularly U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, are closing in.
Released Thursday, the poll shows Biden with 24% support among likely Democratic voters in the state, down from 37% in an October survey. Sanders has 19% support in the latest survey, up from 8% in October, while California billionaire Tom Steyer, who entered the race and has engaged in an aggressive campaign to win over black S.C. voters, picked up 15% support in survey, putting him in third place.
Still up for grabs, according to the Winthrop Poll, are one in five S.C. Democratic voters who remain undecided — creating what may be an unpredictable S.C. primary on Feb. 29.
“Flames seem to be licking through the cracks in Biden’s firewall,” said Winthrop Poll director Scott Huffmon. “His support has dropped by double digits since the late September Winthrop Poll. Without a strong showing in South Carolina, Biden’s campaign will be limping into Super Tuesday. Even a win, if not significant and decisive, will be interpreted as a loss by his opponents.”
Winthrop polled 443 likely Democratic voters between Feb. 9-19. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Here are the poll’s results among the top five polling Democratic presidential candidates:
▪ Biden: 24%
▪ Sanders: 19%
▪ Steyer: 15%
▪ Pete Buttigieg: 7%
▪ Elizabeth Warren: 6%
The other 2020 Democratic candidates — including billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who is not on the South Carolina primary ballot next week but has qualified for the debate stage in Charleston next week — all registered below 5% support, according to the poll.
But even without Bloomberg on the ballot next Saturday, the New Yorker and Steyer have slowly disrupted the South Carolina primary race for both Biden and Sanders, who have over the past year held advantages in the “First in the South” contest.
Bloomberg has spent millions of dollars on ads in markets in North Carolina, a Super Tuesday state where airwaves reached into Rock Hill. Steyer, meanwhile, has spent millions of dollars in South Carolina on the airwaves, while also investing in black-owned media and businesses and college newspapers which have allowed the the former hedge fund manager to further expand his name recognition.
South Carolina is important for Democratic presidential candidates, because it shows the first test of how well a candidate can appeal to African American voters. In South Carolina black voters make up roughly two-thirds of the S.C. Democratic Party primary voting bloc.
The Winthrop Poll found Biden still holds strong support among black voters at 31%, followed by Steyer at 18%.
Sanders trails closely at 17% support among black voters followed by Warren, the U.S. senator from Massachusetts, at 5%, and Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, at 1%. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, of Hawaii, both polled at zero.
“Bernie Sanders, now second behind Biden, has more than doubled his support, both overall and among African American voters,” Huffmon noted in a statement. “With roughly one-fifth of voters remaining undecided, election day could hold some surprises.”
Six presidential candidates have qualified for the Charleston debate stage on Tuesday.
Gabbard and Steyer have until 11:59 p.m. Monday to qualify for the stage at the Charleston Gaillard Center.
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 4:48 PM.
