Two new polls show Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) gaining ground on current front-runner and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Here’s what we know
A Quinnipiac poll published on Tuesday showed Harris polling at 20 percent, within two points of Biden (22 percent). This poll had a margin of error of +/- 5 percent. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) was next at 14 percent, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) at 13 percent. This is the first time that Harris has ever polled over 8 percent.
The rest of the candidates trailed in single digits: South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 3 percent, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) at 3 percent, and the rest at 1 percent or lower.
The last Quinnipiac poll, taken at the beginning of June, had Biden with a strong lead at 30 points, double that of Sanders who was his nearest competition. In that poll, Harris was only at 7 percent.
This poll isn’t an outlier
This new Quinnipiac poll echoed the results of a CNN poll published on Monday, which showed Biden at 22 percent (down 10 points) and Harris at 17 percent (up 9 points). Warren also made gains in the CNN poll, from 8 points to 15 percent, while Sanders was down 4 points to 14 percent. The margin of error for this poll was +/-4.7 percent.
A CNN poll from May had Harris at only 8 percent.
During the NBC News Democratic debate on June 27, Harris targeted Biden. Challenging the former vice president on his civil rights record, Harris talked about a little girl who had to be bused to a newly-desegregated school.
“That little girl is me,” she said.
Her debate performance overall was considered to be strong, which may have helped her polling.
