*NEW* Morning Consult Poll: Bernie still #1 in favorability ratings!!!

[TexasTowelie]

12. I look at it this way:

If the race narrows down to Biden and Sanders, then Biden will get the majority of the voters for Buttigieg, Booker, Bloomberg, Klobuchar and Steyer. Meanwhile, Sanders will get the Warren and Yang supporters. That puts Biden in the low to mid 50% range, while Sanders will be between 35% and 40%.

Buttigieg and Warren have the financial resources that they don't have to get out of the race if they don't want to and that may be enough to keep Biden from winning on the first ballot. However, Biden will do well with the superdelegates that the Sanders camp has berated over the years.

If Bernie doesn't do well in the early primary states, then he has no chance because he won't do well in March. Squeaking out wins in California won't counter the large losses that he will take in the South. It won't matter how many cheerleaders or how much money he has--the race will be done. The last big haul of delegates is in late April, but it also includes states where Biden should either win or at least do well (Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware).

I think that we will have an answer as to who the nominee will be after Super Tuesday, but it may stretch out until the end of March when 65% of the delegates will be decided. However, Bernie + Warren + Yang does not equal to a majority of Democrats. Biden will be the choice of the moderate Democrats who don't want to give him their votes initially.