Joe Biden has a big lead in Mississippi among Democrat voters ahead of Tuesday’s Primary Election.
Data for Progress, a progressive polling firm, conducted a poll of 340 likely MS voters from March 4 to March 7. According to the poll, Biden sits at 77% followed by Bernie Sanders with 22% and Tulsi Gabbard with 1%.
The narrative as of late for the former Vice President’s campaign has been specifically targeted to black voters in the South.
In a campaign swing through Mississippi on Sunday, Biden told black congregants of New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson, “You’re the reason I’m back. Nobody else. You’re the reason.”
Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS 2) endorsed Biden last week ahead of the visit. At the service on Sunday, Thompson called the frontrunner “the comeback kid.”
Biden said later, “If I am the comeback kid, which I ain’t there yet, but if I’m the comeback kid, there’s only one reason I’ve come back: the African American community all around the country.”
The Data for Progress poll tells that story, as well.
Among black respondents, Biden took 83% in Mississippi. Compare that to 16% for the Vermont Senator or 1% for the Hawaii Congresswoman and the Mississippi Primary looks to be locked down for Biden as a majority of remaining Democrat voters in the Magnolia State are black voters.
Biden led with 64% among white respondents while Sanders sat at 35% and Gabbard at 1%.
What is perhaps the most telling from the poll is that 91% of respondents who identified themselves as “moderate” and 72% who identified as “liberal” supported Biden. Sanders only combined for 34% of those groups (26% liberal and 8% moderate).
Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in 2016’s Democratic Presidential Primary in Mississippi 83% to 17%. Biden is on track for a similar result.
Likely voters were identified from the voter file and weighted to a likely electorate for the Date for Progress Poll. The survey was conducted via text-to-web and web panel, with 86% from text to web and 14% from panel data. The margin of error is +/- 5.1
Frank Corder
