Warren, who was gaining momentum last month and appeared to be even more popular than Biden, got only 14 percent from Democratic and independent voters in the poll released on Tuesday. Biden leads with 24 percent, while Buttigieg, who has been rising this month, got 16 percent. Senator Bernie Sanders came in fourth with 13 percent.
Warren’s drop to third is quite dramatic given she was first in Quinnipiac University’s October 24 poll, with 28 percent, even more support than Biden had in the latest survey. In the October poll, Biden was second with 21 percent, Sanders was third with 15 percent and Buttigieg was fourth with only 10 percent.
“Biden is back on top of the pack but now there is a 3-way race for second. Buttigieg has broken into the top tier, apparently at the expense of Warren, who has taken a dive after being hammered for being too far left on health care and other issues,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in the survey report.
Warren experienced the biggest drop of any candidate included. She released a $52 trillion Medicare for All proposal earlier this month, which would involve a transition plan and a public option, and would be fully rolled out by her third year in the White House. Buttigieg attacked Warren’s plan by saying it would not unify Americans.
Warren’s dip in overall popularity seemed to go hand-in-hand with waning interest in the idea of Medicare for All. Only 36 percent of American voters said it is a good idea, while 52 percent opined it is a bad idea. By comparison, 43 percent of American voters considered it a good idea in a late March poll, nearly equaling the 45 percent who called it a bad idea.
As of Tuesday evening, Warren had not tweeted about the new poll. She has had few tweets recently about her Medicare for All plan.
Instead, Warren has been touting her wealth tax proposal and criticizing billionaire and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who entered the race on Sunday.
“Some billionaires figured it might be cheaper to run for president than pay my #WealthTax,” Warren tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. “Well they don’t have the power of a grassroots movement—and in our democracy, I believe in the power of people over money.”
The latest poll, conducted from November 21 to 25, involved 1,335 registered voters nationwide and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.2 percentage points. That included 574 Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
