NEW POLL: Joe Biden Takes Lead in Washington State, Which Bernie Sanders Won By Landslide in 2016

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Former Vice President Joe Biden has taken the lead in Washington for the first time, a state that Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders might have expected to win after his blowout caucus victory in 2016.

Barely a week after the entire Democratic primary race was upended by Biden’s overwhelming victory in the South Carolina primary, which was closely followed by a string of surprising Super Tuesday victories that have placed the former Veep in the delegate lead, Sanders’ chances of winning the nomination look bleak.

The week ended with some more bad news for Sanders, as Biden took a slim lead in Washington State, where Sanders won an overwhelming caucus victory in 2016. Biden leads Sanders 36 percent to 35 percent in the poll, after trailing Sanders by five in the same poll in January.

In 2016, Washington was a caucus state, and Sanders took 74 delegates while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was only awarded 27. But Clinton defeated Sanders in the then-purely-symbolic primary several months later.

There hasn’t been much polling in the state this cycle, and while Biden’s lead is slim, it is the first time he has led in Washington.

If there’s good news for Sanders, it’s that the poll was taken before Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the race, meaning that the 10 percent support she earned in the poll is up for grabs. But an unnamed candidate “still on the ballot but no longer running” garnered 13 percent. It’s likely that’s one of the candidates who have already endorsed Biden.

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