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Sanders overtakes Warren in her home state, poll shows

A Warren loss to Sanders in her home state would increase pressure on her to exit the race.
Candidates Attend The Tenth 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders at the Democratic presidential debate in Charleston, S.C. on Feb. 25, 2020.Alice Keeney / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bernie Sanders has leapfrogged Elizabeth Warren in her home state, according to a poll released Friday, days before the Massachusetts Democratic primary.

In the poll by WBUR, NPR's Boston affiliate, Sanders got 25 percent of support from the state's Democrats, while Warren, who has represented the state in the Senate since 2013, got 17 percent.

Massachusetts is one of 14 states holding primaries on Tuesday.

If Warren ends up losing her home state to Sanders — who has emerged as the front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination — it would increase pressure on her to exit the race.

Warren finished third in Iowa, and fourth in New Hampshire and Nevada. And in South Carolina, which holds its primary on Saturday, she is trailing four other candidates, according to RealClearPolitics' polling average.

Sanders' momentum has been growing amid his strong finishes in the early voting states. He essentially tied for first with Pete Buttigieg in Iowa, then won New Hampshire and Nevada. Although Sanders is polling behind former Vice President Joe Biden in South Carolina, an average of recent polling by FiveThirtyEight shows he has opened up a wide lead over Warren in the last couple of weeks in Massachusetts.

According to the WBUR poll, Sanders' support in the state comes from younger voters, with nearly half of respondents under the age of 45 saying they'd vote for him. Warren had just 16 percent support in that demographic.

Coming in after Sanders and Warren in the poll were Buttigieg, with 14 percent, Mike Bloomberg at 13 percent and Biden with 9 percent.

The WBUR poll of 426 likely voters was conducted Feb. 23 to 26, and has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.