Sanders surges to first place among Democrats nationally as support for Biden tumbles in new poll

Former VP widely seen to be in trouble

Bernie Sanders has surged to the top of a new national poll of Democratic candidates, as support for Joe Biden has tumbled.

On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, the second opportunity for people to actually cast a vote rather simply be questioned by pollsters, the ​Quinnipiac University poll put the veteran Vermont senator on 25 points.

At the same time, the poll, conducted after Mr Biden’s poor fourth place showing in Iowa, had the former vice president down 9 points to 17.

Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who has spent millions of dollars of his own money, stormed to third place, ahead of Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg.

“Biden scrambles to bounce back in frigid New Hampshire after an icy slide to 17 percent, his lowest national number,” said Quinnipiac University poll analyst, Tim Malloy.

“Is the Bloomberg camp prepping the white horse for him to ride to the rescue? Maybe not yet, but without setting foot in Iowa or New Hampshire, he is suddenly a looming shadow over the primary field.”

Meanwhile, another poll, appeared to underscore the challenges facing Mr Biden.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, suggested 17 per cent of registered Democrats and independents would vote for Mr Biden, down five percentage points from a similar poll that ran last week before Iowa held its first-in-the-nation nominating contest.

Mr Sanders led other candidates in the poll with 20 per cent of support, up one point from last week, while 15 per cent supported Mr Bloomberg, an increase of six points.

The poll put Ms Warren on 11 points with Mr Buttigieg on 5. The poll had Andrew Yang on 5 points and Amy Klobuchar on 3.

The poll underscored what has been a steady decline in support for Mr Biden, who until recently was considered the favourite to win the highly contested race for the party’s nomination.

Mr Biden’s primary appeal to voters has been his claim to be the most electable of all of the candidates. Yet he finished in fourth place in Iowa, behind Mr Sanders, Mr Buttigieg and Ms Warren.

Additional reporting by Reuters