Photos: Brett Carlsen/AFP via Getty Images; Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images; Sean Rayford/Getty Images
A group of top national polls released this week show Bernie Sanders in control of the 2020 Democratic race ahead of Wednesday's debate in Las Vegas.
The state of play: Joe Biden, who has been at the top of the polls for months, plunged after lackluster performances in Iowa and New Hampshire — allowing Sanders to surge ahead as billionaire Mike Bloomberg has cut into the former vice president's lead among moderate voters.
The results
- Sanders: 32% (up 9% since January)
- Biden: 16% (-16%)
- Bloomberg: 14% (+6%)
- Warren: 12% (even)
- Buttigieg: 8% (+8%)
- Klobuchar: 7% (+4%)
- Sanders: 27% (even since January)
- Biden: 15% (-11%)
- Bloomberg: 14% (+5%)
- Warren: 14% (-1%)
- Buttigieg: 13% (+6%)
- Klobuchar: 7% (+2%)
- Sanders: 31% (up 9% since December)
- Bloomberg: 19% (+15%)
- Biden: 15% (-9%)
- Elizabeth Warren: 12% (-5%)
- Amy Klobuchar: 9% (+5%)
- Pete Buttigieg: 8% (-5%)
What to watch: The Nevada debate marks the first time Bloomberg has qualified and will be on stage with the rest of the contenders.
- His rivals plan to curb his rise by painting him as a Democratic version of PresidentTrump — an egomaniac New York billionaire who's stained by sexism and racial slights, and hell-bent on buying power and puppeteering mass media, write Axios' Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen.
Worth noting: Because the primary process is conducted on a state-by-state basis, national polls often have their limitations, but these results from three major pollsters crystallize the trend lines currently at play in the race.