Early exit polls suggest voters trust Biden to handle a major crisis better than Sanders

As voters headed to the primary polls in six states Tuesday, it's no surprise the novel coronavirus was on their mind. And in Michigan, Missouri, and Washington, at least, Democratic voters said they consider former Vice President Joe Biden the best candidate to handle a major crisis like the one the U.S. government may soon have to deal with.

Early exit polls out of the two states show voters overwhelmingly think Biden would be better at handling such situations than his main competitor for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

In Michigan, Biden led Sanders 51 percent to 32 percent, while Missouri preferred the vice president 61 percent to Biden.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has dropped out of the race, made a significant dent in Washington, which is home to one of the largest clusters of COVID-19 cases, receiving 21 percent of the votes, likely from early voters, but Biden still held sway with 46 percent. Sanders garnered 27 percent.

Biden will be glad to hear voters believe he's got what it takes to prepare the country for something like a pandemic, but it's reasonable to assume all the candidates are hoping COVID-19 is no longer at crisis level in November.