Feb. 27, 2020 2:55p
(WPR)---Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders surged to a lead in the latest poll of Wisconsin voters by Marquette University Law School, with 29 percent of self-described Democrats listing him as their first choice in the upcoming presidential primary.
It was the best showing yet for Sanders, and Marquette's first poll since he won the New Hampshire primary and the Nevada caucuses outright. Sanders also virtually tied former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttiegieg atop the Iowa caucuses.
Marquette spoke to 1,000 registered Wisconsin voters from Feb. 19-23. Questions that were asked of the entire survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, while questions that were specific to self-identified Democratic primary voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points.
Behind Sanders, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg came in second with 17 percent of those polled. He was followed by former Vice President Joe Biden with 15 percent, Buttiegieg with 13 percent, Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar with 11 percent and Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 9 percent.
Regardless of who emerges from the Democratic primary, Marquette's survey continues to suggest an extremely close general election.
In hypothetical head-to-head matchups with President Donald Trump, Sanders led by 2 percentage points while Biden, Klobuchar and Buttiegieg were all tied. Bloomberg trailed Trump by 1 percentage point and Warren trailed him by 3.
All of the head-to-head results were well within the survey's margin of error.
While Thursday marked the best showing yet for Sanders in the 2020 election cycle, the result was not altogether unexpected.
A survey of Wisconsin voters released Sunday by the University of Wisconsin -Madison Elections Research Center in collaboration with the Wisconsin State Journal showed Sanders leading the Democratic field with 30 percent of the vote.
Editor's note: This story will be updated.
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