Billionaires Are Accelerating Biden’s Collapse

Philip Bump: “There are lots of reasons that Sen. Bernie Sanders should feel pleased with his current position in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Perhaps the only concrete result of the Iowa caucuses was that former vice president Joe Biden did worse than expected. Sanders finished at the top of the field there and should win the New Hampshire primary Tuesday.”

“What’s more, a national poll from Quinnipiac University released Monday showed Sanders passing Biden for the first time. In The Washington Post’s average of national polls, Sanders has pulled within four points of Biden, challenging the former vice president’s long-standing lead. In other polling averages, he’s even closer.”

“Sanders’s gains on Biden aren’t solely a function of Sanders siphoning support from Biden, though. Instead, the poll suggests that Biden’s support is being cannibalized by former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. At the same time, Biden’s planned path to resurrection may have been largely cut off by another billionaire, businessman Tom Steyer.”