Two New Hampshire Democratic primary polls released ahead of Tuesday’s vote show Senator Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) surging to third place and overtaking former frontrunners Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
The latest Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll released Sunday showed Klobuchar coming in third with 13.6 percent of the vote, nearly a two-point lead over Biden and Warren, who were neck-and-neck for fourth with 11.8 and 11.6 percent of the vote, respectively.
Klobuchar reacted to the news on Twitter, saying that “we are surging!” following the poll’s release.
ANOTHER ONE! Two polls tonight have us in 3rd place at 14% in New Hampshire. We are surging!https://t.co/aQ1jlsdkl0 pic.twitter.com/ilL6nn5VKC
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) February 10, 2020
The last Emerson College poll before the primary vote found Klobuchar again in third with 14 percent, gaining a point while both Biden and Warren lost a point.
“Klobuchar continues to move up, but she still trails the top two candidates by a significant margin,” Spencer Kimball, Director of Emerson College Polling, said on the results. “Warren and Biden could still get as high as third but today’s data had them going in the wrong direction.”
New Hampshire voters have cited Klobuchar’s “practical attitude,” her willingness to work with Republicans, and her “bluntness and directness” as strengths.
Klobuchar went after Buttigieg at the state’s debate on Friday, criticizing him for being a “newcomer” running to unseat the “newcomer in the White House.”
Biden polled consistently in first place for much of last year, before Warren overtook him as part of a more broad October surge which saw her polling near the top of the primary field. But according to 538’s New Hampshire polling average, both candidates have declined since November, while Senator Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg have overtaken the top two spots following strong showings in the Iowa primaries last week.
A Suffolk poll from last week showed that Buttigieg had gained 16 points overnight among Biden’s key base of voters over 65.
Biden has pleaded with voters in New Hampshire after his slump in Iowa. “I need your help. I am asking for your help. Look me over,” Biden told a rally in Nashua, N.H. on Tuesday. “Like my mother said, hope springs eternal. We are not giving up; we are not giving up.”