A new poll released Thursday shows a
dramatic rise in popularity for Pete Buttigieg.
The openly gay 37-year-old mayor of
South Bend, Indiana announced he was creating a presidential
exploratory committee in January.
The online survey from Change Research
found 21 percent support for former Vice President Joe Biden and 20
percent for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Seventeen percent of the
2,518 likely Democratic primary voters surveyed picked Buttigieg.
Buttigieg polled at only 2% in the same
nationwide poll conducted last month. Buttigieg began to attract
nationwide attention after he criticized Vice President Mike Pence at
a CNN town hall last month.
(Related: Pete
Buttigieg: Mike Pence seems to be okay with discrimination against
LGBT community.)
Besides Biden, Sanders, and Buttigieg,
no other Democratic presidential hopeful polled in double-digits in
the
Change Research survey.
In officially launching his campaign
for president on Sunday, Buttigieg and his husband Chasten shared a
kiss.