Biden top candidate among black voters: poll

A recent poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden (D) is the favored candidate among black voters by a wide margin.

According to the latest Washington Post/Ipsos national poll, 48 percent of Black voters who are likely to vote for a Democrat picked Biden as their top candidate.

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are a distant second and third, with 20 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

“It’s hardly a surprise that Vice President Biden has such a large lead,” Clifford Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs, said.

“Our polling found that more than six in 10 African Americans believe the next president should continue to build on President Obama’s policies, and Biden’s campaign has promised to do exactly that,” he explained.

This isn’t surprising, as various state-specific polls have churned out similar results throughout the primary race so far.

The numbers suggest that Biden will do well in South Carolina, a state that has a large Black population.

However, the race is much closer in states with larger white populations, such as Iowa and New Hampshire.

The latest Des Moines Register/CNN poll has Biden fourth in Iowa behind former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg in third, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in second place and Sanders who is at the top. However, just five points separate Biden and Sanders.

In Monmouth’s recent New Hampshire poll, Biden came in second at 19 percent – one point behind Buttigieg, one point ahead of Sanders and four points ahead of Warren.

The online poll was conducted Jan. 2-8 and surveyed a random national sample of 1,088 non-Hispanic Black adults over the age of 18. Overall, the poll has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.5 percentage points, and a four-point margin of error for the sample of 769 Democratic-leaning voters.

*story by The Hill