Biden atop 2020 Democratic primary field, new polls find

T

wo new national polls released Tuesday show former Vice President Joe Biden atop the 2020 Democratic primary field.

Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are in the top tier in a Monmouth University poll with 26% and 21%, respectively. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is in third place with 17%

Another poll out Tuesday from Quinnipiac University finds Biden in the lead with 29%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 17%, and Elizabeth Warren at 15%. No other candidate was in double digits.

Warren's support in the Monmouth poll has dropped in each of their past three polls, from 28% in September to 23% in November and 18% now. She also saw a downtick in CNN's poll with SSRS that was released in late November, as well, from 19% in October to 14%.

In Quinnipiac's poll, Warren was steady, while both Sanders and Biden saw very slight upticks. Buttigieg has dropped 7 percentage points since Quinnipiac's November poll, which was among Buttigieg's best of the cycle.

Making up the rest of the field in Monmouth's poll is South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg with 8%, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with 5%, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar with 4%, businessman Andrew Yang with 3%, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker with 2%. No other candidate received above 1% in the new poll.

The Quinnipiac poll is the fourth qualifying poll for Yang at 4%, putting him on the debate stage in December.

Bloomberg received his first and second polls that could qualify him for the December Democratic primary debate, but with the deadline on Thursday, he would need two more polls and to hit the fundraising threshold in order to make the stage. No other candidate qualified for the debate stage with this poll.