At the same time, Democrat support for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) increased after the second night of debates, as the race for the 2020 nomination appeared to get tighter.
Harris received a 9 point increase in the new poll, reaching a total of 17 percent, while Warren had an increase of 8 percent, totaling 15 percent support. The study was conducted for CNN via telephone by SSRS, an independent research company who interviewed 1,613 respondents.
According to the new data, Biden’s lead shrunk to a narrow 5 percent, with Harris right behind him.
Of those who watched or followed news coverage, 41 percent said Harris performed the best in the debates. Meanwhile, only 10 percent said Biden did the best job, according to the CNN poll.
Sen. Bernie Sanders also (I-Vt.) also saw his support drop by 4 percent after the debates.
During the debate, each of the ten candidates agreed that their government healthcare plans would cover illegal aliens.
In a separate show-of-hands question, all but one candidate raised their hands when asked—if elected—if they would decriminalize illegal border crossings. The virtually uniform stance on the two questions is a signpost of where the Democratic field stands on the issue of immigration.
In separate speeches, the candidates also expressed support for undoing all of President Donald Trump’s actions on immigration, including restoring the status of illegal aliens under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The former vice president’s campaign has been marred by allegations from women who said that Biden made them feel uncomfortable when he allegedly touched them inappropriately at political events in the past.
He added that he didn’t think Biden “did well” during the Democratic presidential debate, while reflecting on his performance on the evening of June 27.