Biden extends polling lead over 2020 Democrat rivals to widest margin in six months

Joe Biden is leading by his widest-set margin among Democratic presidential contenders since his campaign's launch in April, according to a new poll from CNN.

More than 35 per cent of Democrat and Democrat-leaning voters support the former vice president, compared to other frontrunners Elizabeth Warren, who polled at 19 per cent, and Bernie Sanders, who was on 16 per cent.

SSRS surveyed 1,003 people over three days in October; 352 were called on a landline and 651 responded via mobile phone.

South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Senator Kamala Harris each received 6 per cent, and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke each polled at 3 per cent.

According to the SSRI poll, published on Wednesday, the centrist-leaning former vice-president is receiving most of his support among moderate and conservative Democrats, up from 29 per cent in September to 43 per cent in October, and nonwhite voters, who spiked their support from 28 per cent to 42 per cent within the last month.

Support for Mr Biden among older voters — people aged 45 and older — also shot up 13 points from September to 43 per cent. He remains the most popular candidate among voters aged 65 and older, at 39 per cent, while Mr Sanders carries 26 per cent of the vote among voters aged 18-49.

When asked which candidates are best suited to handle six critical issues, a majority of survey respondents picked Mr Biden among four of those issues. He falls short in health care, where Mr Sanders polled at 28 per cent.

But Mr Biden is leading among candidates when it comes to foreign policy (56 per cent) and the economy (38 per cent). He also is matched by Mr Sanders at 26 per cent for addressing the climate crisis; both candidates polled at 19 per cent in June.

Mr Biden's spike arrives as Congress pursues its impeachment probe into President Donald Trump, who asked Ukraine for damaging information on the former vice-president as part of a so-called "quid pro quo" in exchange for security aid. Mr Biden's son Hunter Biden was on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while Mr Biden was serving as vice-president under President Barack Obama.

When it comes to whether the candidates can defeat Mr Trump in 2020, voters surveyed gave the Democratic frontrunners a significant advantage over the president in hypothetical match-ups. Respondents said Mr Biden could win by 10 points at 53 per cent with Mr Trump at 43 per cent, while Mr Sanders tops Mr Trump by nine points (52 per cent to 43 per cent) and Ms Warren by eight points (52 per cent to 44 per cent).

The SSRS survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 per cent.

The survey results follow Emerson Polling's Tuesday results, which showed Mr Biden in a close race at 27 per cent compared to Mr Sanders at 25 per cent.

In that poll's hypothetical match-ups between the candidates and Mr Trump, the president trails Mr Biden, Mr Sanders and Ms Warren, with the Democrats at 51 per cent and Mr Trump at 49 per cent.