Buttigieg Surges to Front of Democrat Pack Ahead of Wednesday Nights Debate

by: JimCardle
2019-11-19
Source: texasinsider
01/08/2020

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Heres everything you need to know about Wednesday Evenings Slug-Fest

WASHINGTON D.C. (Texas Insider Report) The big news prior to tomorrow nights Democrat Presidential Debate is the talk of Mayor Pete Buttigiegs surprising surge in the early first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa.

Buttigieg has been quietly running a solid campaign of late after numerous missteps throughout the summer when several controversies made news in his hometown of South Bend Indiana which seems to have died down for now.

A Monmouth University Poll released last week surprised analysts nationwide when it showed the small-town mayor sitting atop the latest Iowa Poll with Joe Biden sitting in 2nd place:

A Monmouth University poll published Tuesday shows the South Bend Ind. mayor is the first choice of 22 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers outrunning all other rivals in Iowa for the partys nomination to challenge President Donald Trump.
Former Vice President Joe Biden ranks in second place with 19 percent support followed closely by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts with 18 percent and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont with 13 percent.
Although no other candidate cracked double-digit support 5 percent of likely caucusgoers favored Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and California Sen. Kamala Harris billionaire activist Tom Steyer and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang each received 3 percent. The remainder of the Democratic pack achieved 2 percent support or less.

Buttigiegs (pronounced Boot-edge-edge for those still wondering) recent gains in Iowa represent a 14-point improvement since Monmouths previous statewide survey in August when he polled at just 8.

There is a chance however that with Buttigiegs surging poll numbers his opponents might attempt to re-open some of those old questions during Wednesdays debate especially in relation to the police shooting.

Buttigieg placed 3rd with 13 in a recent Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll released in October behind Bidens 18 and Warrens 17 and in a Quinnipiac University Survey released the first week in November he trailed top-finisher Warren by just 1 well within the margin-of-error.

There havent been any other major Iowa poll numbers so far in November so its hard to tell if these positive results for will stick or if the race in Iowa simply remains a toss-up with the top candidates taking turns in the lead.

Its worth noting that although Buttigieg is leading its only by 3 within the polls margin of error.

Heading into Wednesdays Debate the race appears to have narrowed in Iowa to four candidates who are in a wide-open race with a three-way or sometimes four-way tie between Buttigieg Biden Warren and Sanders.

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted Nov. 7-11 surveying 451 likely Democratic caucusgoers. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.

Wednesday Nights MSNBC/Washington Post Debate Format

NBC News has released details about how the debate will be formatted. The event held over two hours will be broken up into four segments with only three commercial breaks during the broadcast.

Date: Wednesday November 20 2019
Time: 9 pm ET (8 pm CT)
Live Stream: MSNBC.com
Location: Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta Georgia
Sponsors: MSNBC The Washington Post
Moderators: Rachel Maddow Andrea Mitchell Kristen Welker and Ashley Parker

NBC has decided to ax opening statements to allow more time for actual questions. There will however be time allotted for each candidate to make a closing argument".

During the debate candidates will have 75 seconds to answers questions posed to them and 45 seconds for follow-ups at the moderators discretion.

Candidates will also be able to respond if theyre referred to or attacked by another candidate but that will also be at the moderators discretion.

The final candidate list for the November debate includes: