A newly-released poll has Pete
Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, leading among
2020 Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa, the first state to
hold a presidential contest.
The Monmouth University poll has
Buttigieg in the lead with 22 percentage points among caucus-goers.
That's an increase of 16 percent since Monmouth's August poll.
Former Vice President Joe Biden (19%),
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (18%), and Vermont Senator
Bernie Sanders (13%) round out the top four spots. The rest of the
Democratic field trails with single digits.
Patrick Murray, director of the
Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in releasing the poll
that Buttigieg's support is coming from a “wide variety of Iowa
Democrats.”
“Buttigieg is emerging as a top pick
for a wide variety of Iowa Democrats,” Murray said. “While he has
made nominally bigger gains among older caucus-goers, you really
can't pigeonhole his support to one particular group. He is doing
well with voters regardless of education or ideology.”
Pollsters also found that Buttigieg has
the highest approval rating among Democratic presidential hopefuls.
Sixty-three percent of caucus-goers said that they approve of
Buttigieg, compared to Warren at 46%, Biden at 39%, Minnesota Senator
Amy Klobuchar at 36%, and Sanders at 32%.
Buttigieg's campaign has invested
heavily in Iowa.