Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a double digit lead over his closest competitor in the South Carolina Democratic primary, according to a Clemson University poll released on Wednesday, just a few days before the Saturday contest.
Biden has 35% support in the survey, well ahead of second place Tom Steyer, who has concentrated most of his efforts on the state, at 17%.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the overall front-runner in the race for the party’s presidential nomination, is the only other candidate in double digits at 13%, while 12% are undecided.
Other results from the poll include:
- Rounding out the survey is Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 8%, followed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 4%.
- When asked what they liked most about their choice for president, with the possibility of giving multiple reasons for their backing, 55% said a strong leader, 51% said cares about people like me, 45% said shares my opinion about issues and 32% said is the most electable.
- Sixty-three percent of those asked had a positive opinion about Biden, while 62% said the same about Steyer. The next highest ranking candidate for which voters had a positive opinion was Warren at 55%, Sanders at 54%, Klobuchar at 51% and Buttigieg at 50%
The survey included 650 respondents and was conducted by a professional polling firm of voters statewide from Feb. 17-25. The poll, which had a mixed survey methodology of telephone respondents, online and online panel voters, has a margin of error of +/-3.8 percentage point and a 95% confidence level for the results.