Sanders surges into dead heat with Biden in nationwide poll

Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is in a dead heat nationally with former Vice President Joe Biden, according to the latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll released Friday.

Of Democratic primary voters, 27 percent said they support the Vermont senator, while Biden gained 26 percent of the vote.

Sanders picked up 6 points from the same poll in December, when he garnered 21 percent.

The numbers show that Sanders's support is rising nationally ahead of Monday's first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) finished third with 15 percent of the vote and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has also seen his numbers steadily climb, finished fourth with 9 percent of the vote. Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg rounded out the top five with 7 percent.

The RealClearPolitics average of national polls shows Biden holding onto a 5-point lead over Sanders, but Sanders has picked up more than 4 points in the average since the beginning of 2020.

The Iowa caucuses, which are Monday, are the first time that Americans get to voice their vote for who they want to see be the Democratic nominee in November. A recent Monmouth Iowa poll showed Biden with 2-point lead over Sanders and five candidates polling at 10 percent or higher.

The NBC-WSJ poll surveyed 428 Democratic primary voters and took place between Jan. 26-29 and has a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.