A new poll showed Andrew Yang’s favorability score get a solid bump after the latest debate, putting him in a virtual tie with South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
A Morning Consult poll showed Yang with a 34 percent net favorability score, just ahead of Buttigieg’s 33 percent, putting them in a virtual tie for fourth place.
Yang had a 30 percent net favorability -- the percent of voters with a favorable rating view those with an unfavorable view -- prior to the debate.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar and billionaire Tom Steyer also got five-point favorability bumps, according to the poll, while Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren saw their net favorability dip slightly after the debate.
Sanders’ net favorability is at 54 percent while Warren is at 44 percent. Biden is at 49 percent.
Yang made biggest positive impression:
A FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll also found that Yang made the most positive impression, seeing a more than 6 percent bump in his net favorability after the debate. Klobuchar also saw a 6 percent increase.
Steyer and Warren saw 3 percent bumps, Sanders and Biden saw 2 percent bumps, and Buttigieg saw a 2 percent dip.
Yang’s bump came even though he was given the least time to speak by far.
Yang may not make next debate:
Only five candidates -- Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Sanders, and Warren -- have qualified for the January Iowa debate thus far, according to The Washington Post.
Candidates must reach at least 5 percent in four qualifying polls or at least 7 percent in two early-state polls, under the DNC rules, and get at least 225,000 unique donors including 1,000 unique donors in at least 20 states.
Yang has already reached the donor threshold but needs three more qualifying polls to show him at 5 percent to reach the stage. Just one poll shows him at 5 percent right now.
Steyer, the only other candidate who made the December debate, has yet to reach the donor threshold and needs two more qualifying national polls to reach the stage.
