Pete Buttigieg Jumps To Third Among Democratic 2020 Presidential Candidates In New Iowa Poll
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg jumped to third place in a poll of the 2020 Iowa caucuses released Sunday.
The poll revealed 11 percent of likely Democratic Iowans — who were surveyed by Emerson Polling — would choose 37-year-old Buttigieg as their 2020 nominee.
Still leading the pack in this survey of Democratic 2020 candidates is Joe Biden — who has yet to officially announce his presidential run — who holds 25 percent support, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has 24 percent support.
In fourth place in this poll is Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who holds 10 percent support. She is the only other candidate to have double-digit support.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!
A week of political news in your in-box.
We find the news you need to know, so you don't have to.
SLIDESHOW: TOP DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020
“The biggest surprise in this poll is Mayor Pete, last week we saw him inching up in our national poll, and now he’s in double digits in Iowa, America is going to be asking who is ‘Mayor Pete’?” Spencer Kimball, director of the Emerson Poll, said.
Buttigieg, who is openly gay, is the youngest 2020 presidential contender thus far, and has proposed several bold ideas as part of his campaign, including abolishing the electoral college. He has blasted President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence — the former Governor of Indiana — multiple times.
Buttigieg also finished second in Sunday’s Emerson survey in support from 18-to-29-year-old voters, with 22 percent. Sanders finished first in this category with 44 percent.
“If Buttigieg is able to maintain his momentum, his candidacy appears to be pulling from the same demographic of young voters as Sanders, and that could become a problem for Sanders,” Kimball added.
The Emerson poll surveyed 249 Iowa Democratic caucus-goers last week who stated they will vote in 2020. The margin of error for the sample is 6.2 percentage points.
Get the most-revealing celebrity conversations with the uInterview podcast!