Berkeley Poll: Sanders Holds 17-Point Lead In Final Days Before California Democratic Primary
BERKELEY (CBS SF) – With the California Primary rapidly approaching, the latest poll from UC Berkeley shows Sen. Bernie Sanders maintaining a large lead over his Democratic rivals heading into the final weekend of campaigning before Super Tuesday.
The poll of 3,002 likely Democratic primary voters from the school's Institute of Governmental Studies shows the senator from Vermont with 34 percent support in California, far ahead of the other contenders for the Democratic nomination. Second in the standings is Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, with 17 percent.
Rounding out the top five are former New York City mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg with 12 percent, former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg with 11 percent and former Vice President Joe Biden with 8 percent.
Among the remaining candidates, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota had 6 percent, Bay Area billionaire Tom Steyer had 2 percent and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii had 1 percent.
Meanwhile, seven percent are undecided.
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The IGS poll shows a continuing trend of rising support for Sanders in the state. Last month, another poll from the same group had the senator with 26 percent support and a poll from last November showed Sanders with 24 percent support.
Meanwhile, support for his rivals has been in flux over the last several months, particularly Warren and Biden, who both had support in California drop by double digits since an IGS poll taken last September.
The group said Sanders' gains in California are fueled by the state's Latino population and among younger voters. Among Latinos, the senator has 51 percent support. Sanders is also favored widely among voters under 30, where he receives 61 percent support, and has the support of 53 percent of voters age 30 to 39.
Friday's poll is the latest to show Sanders leading among Californians voting in the Democratic primary. A poll by the Public Policy Insitute of California released earlier this month had the senator leading by 18 points, while a Change Research/KQED poll released Wednesday had Sanders leading by 17 points.
The IGS poll, conducted between February 20th-25th has a margin of error plus / minus two points.
Election Day is March 3rd.