When all Democrats are forced to choose between Biden and Sanders (leaving Clinton completely out of the picture) they break for Biden over Sanders by 58% to 42%. Biden is buoyed by broad support among Hispanic and black Democrats, as well as those who are not ideologically liberal. Yet even among whites and liberals, the split between Biden and Sanders supporters is much closer to 50-50, suggesting the Vice President has significant sway even with Sanders’s core constituencies.

It’s possible Democrats could move towards Sanders as they get to know him better. Nine in ten Democrats have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Vice President; despite Sanders’s surge in the polls, only three quarters of Democrats have an opinion of him.

However, even among the subset of Democrats who do have an opinion of Sanders (by no means a representative group), voters are split: 51% opt for Biden over Sanders (49%) in a forced choice.