Sen. Bernie Sanders appears to be continuing his rise in the polls despite the claim of Sen. Elizabeth Warren that he made a sexist and bizarre comment to her in a meeting shortly before she announced her candidacy. Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden remain flat in the Reuters/Ipsos national poll.
We previously discussed controversy over Warren’s claim that Sanders told her that a woman could not be elected president in 2020. The allegation was questioned by many based on Sanders’ past statements and the fact that such a statement to an expected political rival would have been moronic. One issue that we discussed is whether CNN’s obvious bias against Sanders during the debate, including Abby Phillips basically treating Sanders as a liar on the alleged statement, would actually push voters toward Sanders.
If this poll is accurate, Sanders is continuing his rise despite the allegation while, if Warren hoped it would restart her struggling campaign, the voters are not responding as favorably to Warren well. Some 20% of registered Democrats and independents said they would back Sanders while 19% support Biden. Warren is at 12% followed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at 9% and 6% with Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Amy Klubucer also shows little movement and remains a marginal candidate.
Most notably, more women support Sanders than Warren despite the latter emphasizing the issue of a woman running for the presidency and the allegation of sexism against Sanders. Sanders holds 15% of women while 11% support Warren.
Obviously, this can still change and this is just one poll. The DNC and establishment appear again to be working against Sanders, as they did in 2016. However, as with the open bias shown by CNN’s Phillips in the debate, such opposition could well work to the advantage of Sanders with many voters still unhappy with the rigging of the primary for Hillary Clinton by the DNC. Moreover, Warren will need those Sanders voters but they are clearly miffed at her and there are indications that some might not accept a centrist option like Biden.