Following last week’s Democratic Debates, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, has jumped in popularity among registered voters, closing in on Democratic front-runner former Vice President Joe Biden.
According to a survey from Morning Consult, 12 percent of Democratic primary voters said Harris was their first choice for president, doubling her support from a previous survey before the debate.
The survey, which collected 2,407 responses from registered voters who indicate they may vote in the Democratic primary or caucus in their state, showed Harris’ surge in support came largely at the expense of Biden, who dropped 5 percentage points, though he still leads the field of Democratic candidates with 33 percent of Democratic primary voters.
During the debate, Biden faced criticism from Harris on his decades-old opposition to federally mandated busing of black students as a means of desegregating public schools.
Harris’ jump in support puts her above South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg of Indiana and into a tie with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, for third place among those surveyed. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, is in second place among the Democratic candidates for first choice among voters.
Sanders, who did not lose any support, maintained 19 percent of Democratic primary voters who picked Sanders as their first choice of candidates to support.
