Are Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden now 'co-frontrunners' in the 2020 race?


Does the 2020 Democratic presidential primary officially have two front-runners?
Nate Silver thinks so after a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pulling ahead of former Vice President Joe Biden. This is the first time Biden has lost his first place position since Quinnipiac in March began asking its question about candidate preference.
In the poll, Warren gets 27 percent support from Democratic voters, with Biden getting 25 percent support. For Warren, that's an eight point jump since Quinnipiac's August national poll, while for Biden, it's a seven point slip. Warren and Biden are now in a statistical tie.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Silver notes that while last week, he was thinking of the race as being Biden at "1a" and Warren at "1b," her latest polling has him already abandoning this distinction, and he's now ready to declare them "co-frontrunners." In addition to this Quinnipiac national poll, Warren also lead Biden in new polls this week in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Quinnipiac's polling analyst, Tim Malloy, came to a similar conclusion, saying, "We now have a race with two candidates at the top of the field, and they're leaving the rest of the pack behind." After Biden, there's a nine-point gap before Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is at 16 percent. No one else cracks 10 percent support.
Quinnipiac's poll was conducted by speaking to 561 registered Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters nationwide from Sept. 19-23. The margin of error is 4.9 percentage points. Read the full results at Quinnipiac.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Music reviews: Lady Gaga, Jason Isbell, and Astropical
Feature “Mayhem,” “Foxes in the Snow,” and “Astropical”
By The Week US Published
-
Art review: Christine Sun Kim: All Day All Night
Feature Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, through July 6
By The Week US Published
-
Video game review: Split Fiction and Monster Hunter: Wilds
Feature A split-screen sci-fi adventure and the return of a 20-year-old monster-hunting franchise
By The Week US Published
-
Trump purports to 'void' Biden pardons
Speed Read Joe Biden's pardons of Jan. 6 committee members are not valid because they were done by autopen, says Trump
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
White House ignores judicial deportation blocks
Speed Read The Trump administration deports alleged Venezuelan gang members under a wartime law, defying a court order
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Schumer: Democrats will help pass spending bill
Speed Read The Democrats end the threat of government shutdown
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump pulls nomination of anti-vax CDC pick
Speed Read Former Florida congressmen Dr. Dave Weldon was nominated to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Judges tell Trump to rehire fired federal workers
Speed Read Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE team face a big setback in their efforts to shrink the federal workforce
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump trade war heats up as Canada, EU retaliate
Speed Read The president imposes 25% steel and aluminum tariffs in an effort to revive US manufacturing, though it may drive up prices for Americans instead
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump hawks Teslas, slashes more federal jobs
Speed Read The Education Department cut its workforce in half ahead of an expected Trump order to shutter the agency
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ukraine agrees to ceasefire, ending US aid freeze
Speed Read Kyiv made peace with the Trump administration by agreeing to an immediate ceasefire in its war against Russian invaders
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published