Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden led Sen. Elizabeth Warren by 6 points in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, according to a poll released on Tuesday that showed the two candidates separated themselves a bit from the rest of the pack since July.
Mr. Biden was the top choice of 31% of Democratic primary voters, followed by Ms. Warren of Massachusetts at 25%, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Mr. Biden gained 5 points of support compared to an NBC/WSJ survey from July, and Ms. Warren gained 6 points.
Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont was next at 14%, followed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, at 7% and Sen. Kamala D. Harris of California at 5%.
Support for Mr. Sanders and Mr. Buttigieg was essentially the same as two months ago, while Ms. Harris lost 8 points of support.
In the new poll, entrepreneur Andrew Yang was next at 4%, followed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sen. Cory A. Booker of New Jersey at 2% apiece.
Thirty-five percent said they’re “enthusiastic” about Ms. Warren, up 9 points since June, compared to 35% who said they’re “comfortable” with her and 6% who said “very uncomfortable.”
Meanwhile, 23% said they were enthusiastic about Mr. Biden, 41% said they were comfortable, and 13% said they were very uncomfortable — about in line with his numbers from earlier in the summer.
For Mr. Sanders, 25% said they were enthusiastic, 37% said they were comfortable, and 12% said they were very uncomfortable — also similar to where he was a few months ago.
The survey of 506 Democratic primary voters was taken from Sept. 13-16 — right after last week’s debate — and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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