WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's support waned considerably in a poll released Monday, putting him on par with two other top contenders.
According to the poll released by Monmouth University, 19 percent of Democratic and Democratic leaning voters said they favored Biden, a 13-percentage-point decrease compared to a June poll by the university and the lowest since the university started to poll voters this January.
The number put Biden behind progressive candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom enjoy a 20 percent support rate.
Trailing in fourth place was U.S. Senator from California Kamala Harris, with 8 percent. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Senator from New Jersey Cory Booker each had 4 percent.
Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said the main takeaway from the results is that the race for party nomination has "become volatile."
"Moderate voters, who have been paying less attention, seem to be expressing doubts about Biden. But they are swinging more toward one of the left-leaning contenders with high name recognition rather than toward a lesser known candidate who might be more in line with them politically," Murray said.
As the primary race enters the fall, the size of the field of candidates is likely to shrink. So far 10 candidates have qualified for the third round of debates on Sept. 12 and possibly the 13th, half the number of the previous two rounds.
Three candidates that have participated in the previous debates, including John Hickenlooper, Jay Inslee and Eric Swalwell, have quit their races as their hopes dimmed.
"The poll is an outlier that is contradicted by every measure of the national average," the Biden campaign was reported as saying.
