US: Biden increases lead on 2020 Democratic rivals

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Democratic front-runner Joe Biden continued to expand his lead over fellow partisans vying for the party's nomination in the 2020 election, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The former vice president boosted his lead by 5 percentage points, according to the latest iteration of an Ipsos/Reuters monthly poll.

The poll indicated 29% of Democrats and Independents would vote for Biden -- up from 24% in late April prior to Biden officially entering the race.

He leads amongst all age groups except for 18-37 year olds who favor Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. That age groups favors Sanders by just two points, however, 18% to 16%.

While Sanders' 2016 White House bid was ultimately unable to best that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he was nonetheless propelled on to the national stage, bringing with him a nascent progressive wing of the Democratic Party that has since grown in popularity.

Biden has boosted his popularity by 4 percentage points amongst Democratic and Independent women since April despite being dogged by a allegations of unwanted touching and his treatment of a woman who alleged sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his Senate confirmation.

Asked who they would vote for if their preferred candidate were no longer running, 16% of registered Democrats said they would cast ballot for Sanders -- the top choice in that scenario. Biden followed shortly behind with 13%.

Registered Independents, however, preferred Sanders 14% to 10% for Biden under those conditions.