Bernie Bucks Biden on Top of Latest Iowa Polling

The all important Iowa caucuses are nearly here, but the Democratic Party doesn’t appear any more prepared to choose a nominee than they did a year ago.

Sure, we have whittled the field down to about a dozen aspiring politicos – half of the record high number we saw earlier in the race – but there is still no real frontrunner.  Former Vice President Joe Biden once filled that role, but the renewed focus on he and his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine seem to have throttled the enthusiasm around him.

This, despite the fact that Biden is considered one of the only candidates who can steal away some of Trump’s midwestern, moderate thunder.

In the latest shakeup, Joe Biden has fallen all the way to fourth place in Iowa, with democratic socialist Bernie Sanders raising to the top.

For the first time in his two-cycle pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination — and at about the best time for such a peak — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders leads the Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

The senator from Vermont is the top choice of 20% of likely Democratic caucusgoers, according to the poll by Selzer & Co. That places him 3 percentage points ahead of Elizabeth Warren, 4 points ahead of Pete Buttigieg and 5 points ahead of Joe Biden. No other candidate has double-digit support.

This poll also brings his highest favorability rating since June — 66% of likely Democratic caucusgoers have favorable feelings toward him, versus 29% with unfavorable feelings. That’s an 11-point increase in net favorability since the November Iowa Poll.

Of course, knowing what we already know about the tumult of the 2020 race, there is no telling just how long the fickle progressive base will keep Sanders elevated to this lofty perch.