After the South Carolina primary, the field of candidates was narrowed by two candidates dropping out of the race. On Saturday night, Tom Steyer dropped out. One day later, Pete Buttigieg followed suit. Both said they no longer see a path toward winning the nomination.
I was not a supporter of Pete Buttigieg this year, but I thought he ran an intelligent, inclusive, and generally positive campaign. And he is far from being a loser. Only a few months ago, most Democrats (and Americans) had never heard of Pete Buttigieg. Now nearly everyone has, and most Democrats have a very positive view of him.
This was not his year, but he has established himself as a future star in the Democratic Party. And personally, I think whoever the nominee turns out to be this year, they would be very smart to find a place for Buttigieg in their administration.
All the pundits now are talking about who will benefit from Buttigieg dropping out of the race. The general consensus is that it will help Biden. But that may not be true.
The chart below is from the Morning Consult Poll -- done between February 23rd and 27th of a national sample of 13,428 likely Democratic primary voters, with a 1 point margin of error. It shows that Buttigieg supporters are virtually split between the four leading candidates.
About 21% will go to Sanders, 19% to Biden, 19% to Warren, and 17% to Bloomberg. That, according to Morning Consult, would boost each of the four campaigns by about 2 points.
