A new Monmouth University poll conducted in Iowa shows South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg in first place, followed closely by Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
Buttigieg is up 14 points since the same poll was conducted in August. The largest drops come from Biden, who lost 7 points, and Kamala Harris who lost 9.
The Iowa numbers come in as follows:
- Pete Buttigieg – 22%
- Joe Biden – 19%
- Elizabeth Warren – 18%
- Bernie Sanders – 13%
- Amy Klobuchar – 5%
- Kamala Harris – 3%
- Tom Steyer – 3%
- Andrew Yang – 3%
- Cory Booker – 2%
- Tulsi Gabbard – 2%
- Steve Bullock – 1%
- Julián Castro – 1%
Buttigieg’s lead has been the headline of the day for mainstream media outlets, but the reason he has a lead is because Buttigieg flooded Iowa with paid TV advertisements. According to Medium Buying, an ad buying company, Buttigieg’s campaign spent $870,000 between November 5 to 11 on TV ads in Iowa alone.
Buttigieg TV ad spend in Iowa markets over last week (11/5-11/11): $870K https://t.co/1wUE0ksC7w
— Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) November 12, 2019
In the third quarter of fundraising, Buttigieg raised $19.1 million. Between November 5 to 11, Buttigieg’s campaign spent approximately 5 percent of that money in just one week–high spending for just one state.
Buttigieg is desperate to show himself as a top tier candidate as the Iowa Caucus approaches. This Monmouth poll was essential to keeping Buttigieg relevant in the race for the presidency, as many have written him off as second tier. Especially because the national polls shows Buttigieg far behind the top three candidates.
In national polls, Buttigieg hangs around fourth place, about 19 points behind Biden who holds first place. Buttigieg is polling at 7.5 percent, while Biden polls at 26.8 percent, Warren at 20.8 percent, and Sanders at 17 percent.
Nationally, Buttigieg is far from the top three and not “top tier.” With intense money poured into television ads and staff in Iowa, Buttigieg may be at the top in one state, but this poll is not indicative of his campaign on the national level.
