Buttigieg Surges Into The Running In Iowa, Poll Shows

2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg surged into third place among likely Democratic caucusgoers in Iowa, a poll found.

A Suffolk University-USA TODAY Poll released Monday found Democratic South Bend Indiana Mayor Buttigieg trailing former Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren among likely Democratic Iowa caucusgoers. The poll surveyed 500 likely Iowa Democratic caucusgoers over the phone between Oct. 16-18 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Biden polled at 18 %, Warren polled at 17 %and Buttigieg polled at 13 % — a 7 percentage point jump since a June Suffolk-USA TODAY poll. Democratic 2020 candidates Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders follows Buttigieg at 9 %, and billionaire Tom Steyer followed Sanders at 3 %.

The candidates’ standing in Iowa has changed since a June Suffolk-USA TODAY poll taken in Iowa. The June poll found Biden leading at 24 %, Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris at 16 %, Warren at 13 %, and Sanders at 9 %.

“Iowa is unquestionably up for grabs,” Suffolk Political Research Center Director David Paleologos told in a statement.

Paleologos added that Buttigieg “has found a lane and is accelerating toward the front of the pack, surpassing Bernie Sanders. All of this is happening while the number of undecided voters continues to grow as Democratic caucusgoers pause to reevaluate the changing field.”