Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is rising the polls in the first state to hold primaries, Iowa, reaching second place in the Iowa State University/Civiqs poll.
Of the 598 likely caucus-goers who were polled, 20 percent reported Buttigieg being their top choice among the Democrats. This puts him in second behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who polled at 28 percent.
Sen. Bernie Sanders follows in third with 18 percent and former vice president Joe Biden in fourth with 12 percent.
“You can attribute some of [Buttigieg’s] momentum to basic retail politics,” said Dave Peterson, a professor and Whitaker Lindgren faculty fellow at Iowa State University who organized the poll. “Buttigieg is incredibly well-organized and is spending a lot of his resources in Iowa. His presence at the Iowa Steak Fry last month was better than any other candidate.”
These numbers differ slightly from a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released this week from likely Democratic caucus-goers, 18 percent of whom supported Biden, 17 percent supported Warren, and 13 percent supported Buttigieg.
The Iowa State University poll also asked voter who they didn’t want to win the nomination; Biden and Sanders topped the list, with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard coming in third.