Bernie Sanders Leads All Democratic Hopefuls By At Least 15% Nationally, Poll Finds

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is leading the Democratic hopefuls by 15%, nearly securing his status as the most likely to win the nomination in July.

A new poll by ABC News and Washington Post found that 32 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents favor Sanders, an eight-point jump from a similar poll conducted last month. It also found that former Vice President Joe Biden‘s support dropped 11 points to 17%, a solid 15 points behind Sanders.

Biden had previously held the #1 sport, but the 15-point lead Sanders has now is nearly double the largest lead Biden ever had in the ABC News-Washington Post surveys.

In third place was billionaire Mike Bloomberg at 14%, a 6 point jump since January. Following him are Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) with 11%, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 7% and Sen. Amy Klobuchar with 6%.

Delegate-wise, Buttigieg still narrowly leads although he has not been polling as well in other early states as he did in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The poll also sheds light on Democrats’ increased belief that Sanders is best-equipped to beat incumbent Donald Trump. Thirty percent said Sanders was the best option to go head-to-head against Trump, a 12% increase from January.

The survey was conducted among a national sample of 1,066 random adults between Feb. 14 and Feb. 17. Its margin of error is +/-3.5.