Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden holds a 20-point lead over Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont in Arizona, according to a poll released on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s presidential primary contest.
Mr. Biden was the top choice of 51% of likely Democratic primary voters, followed by Mr. Sanders at 31% and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii at 1%, according to the Monmouth University poll.
“Biden has a strong advantage going into the primary. This is because much of his support has already been banked in the early vote,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “The closure of many polling places due to COVID-19 means it is uncertain how many voters who planned to vote on Tuesday will actually show up.”
Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders squared off in their first one-on-one debate on Sunday evening in Washington, D.C. The debate had been moved from Phoenix due to coronavirus concerns.
Maricopa County is planning to close about 80 polling locations on Tuesday because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The county recorder also planned to mail ballots to registered Democrats who haven’t voted yet, though a judge quashed that plan late last week after Attorney General Mark Brnovich took legal action.
Mr. Biden held a 3-point, 46% to 43% lead over President Trump in a hypothetical general election match-up in Arizona in the poll, while Mr. Trump held a 1-point, 44% to 43% lead over Mr. Sanders.
“Impressions of the Democratic nominee will shift once the general election campaign gets under way, but Biden would start off by putting Arizona within reach,” Mr. Murray said.
Democrat Mark Kelly also held a 6-point, 50% to 44% lead over Republican Sen. Martha McSally in a hypothetical November match-up in what will be one the most closely-watched U.S. Senate races in the country.
Top elections officials from Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio issued a joint statement on Friday saying they are confident that voters can “safely and securely” cast ballots in Tuesday’s primaries.
Still, Louisiana and Georgia recently announced they were pushing off their presidential primaries due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Louisiana is pushing its April 4 primary to June 20, and Georgia’s March 24 primary has been rescheduled for May 19.
The Democratic Party of Puerto Rico also said over the weekend that it would seek to delay the March 29 presidential primary.
The Monmouth poll of 847 registered voters was taken from March 11-14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
The subset of 373 likely Democratic primary voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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