A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released Thursday night showed Sen. Bernie Sanders leading the 2020 Democratic presidential field in the delegate-rich Super Tuesday state after doubling his support since last October.
The survey, conducted between Jan. 31 and Feb. 9, showed Sanders with 24% support among likely Texas Democratic primary voters. Former Vice President Joe Biden polled in second place with 22% support and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in third with 15%.
With the March 3 Texas primary just over two weeks away, the poll indicates a significant shift in the dynamics of the Democratic presidential race over a period of several months. In October, a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll showed Biden leading the field with 23% and Sanders in fourth with 12%.
“Most of the movement has been Sanders and [billionaire businessman Michael] Bloomberg, with Biden [holding] still,” Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune. “To be unable to increase his vote share is pretty telling for Biden.”
The internet survey of 1,200 registered voters has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.83 percentage points and a margin of error of +/- 4.09 percentage points for the Democratic race.
NEW: Bernie Sanders is now the leading Democratic presidential candidate among Texas voters, according to our latest poll.
Bernie Sanders: 24%
Joe Biden: 22%
Elizabeth Warren: 15%
Michael Bloomberg: 10%
Pete Buttigieg: 7%MORE: https://t.co/bV2EiOeWih #tx2020
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) February 14, 2020
The poll also found that President Donald Trump is leading all 2020 Democratic presidential candidates in Texas, with Sanders trailing the president by the smallest margin.
#Texas, @UTAustin/@TexasTribune GE Poll:
Trump 46 (+5)
Bloomberg 41Trump 46 (+5)
Klobuchar 41Trump 47 (+5)
Buttigieg 42Trump 47 (+4)
Biden 43Trump 47 (+3)
Warren 44Trump 47 (+2)
Sanders 45— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) February 14, 2020
“The Trump trial ballots confirm what we’ve seen, that Trump is winning, but he clearly is under-performing, given the party profile in the state,” Daron Shaw, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin who co-directed the poll, told the Tribune. “It is interesting when you put a flesh and blood Democrat up there, it drops that number, but here’s a Republican in a Republican state who’s not at 50%, which is a sign of weakness.”
Angry, shocked, overwhelmed? Take action: Support independent media.
We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
It will be a long fight ahead. And as nonprofit movement media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.
As we undertake this life-sustaining work, we appeal for your support. We have 7 days left in our fundraiser: Please, if you find value in what we do, join our community of sustainers by making a monthly or one-time gift.