NORTHAMPTON — As Massachusetts voters prepare to head to the polls on Tuesday, Democratic primary polls show Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a nearly neck-and-neck race to win the state. Over the weekend, canvassers set out to give one last push for their candidate of choice.
Warren is currently in fourth place in the overall primaries, with eight declared delegates compared to Sanders’ 58. But her supporters are optimistic that Super Tuesday will show the country that Warren is still a contender for the Democratic nomination.
“We’re feeling really hopeful,” said Shutesbury resident Carrie Hawkins, who spent over an hour knocking on doors with her daughter, Elyse Hawkins, on Sunday. “We think that on Super Tuesday she can get a nice bump to send her above Bernie and Joe.”
Meanwhile, Sanders supporters hope to see the Vermont senator strengthen his delegate lead, which they say is important in avoiding a brokered Democratic convention. A brokered convention occurs when no candidate earns a majority of delegates in the first round of voting and allows superdelegates to weigh in on the Democratic nominee.
With 14 states, American Samoa and the Democrats abroad voting on Super Tuesday, a total of 1,357 delegates will be up for grabs — the highest number available on any day during the primaries.
As of Friday, a University of Massachusetts Amherst/WCVB poll found Sanders and Warren separated by a 2 percent margin, with Sanders polling at 25 percent support and Warren at 23 percent. A Suffolk University poll released on Saturday shows a similar margin, with Sanders polling at 24 percent and Warren at 22 percent.
Sanders currently leads the Democratic field with 58 delegates. With 50 delegates, former Vice President Joe Biden was buoyed into second place by a South Carolina primary victory on Saturday, contrasting a poor show of support in earlier races, and received 12 percent support in the UMass/WCVB poll.
Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg sits in third place with 26 delegates, but he announced Sunday he was ending his presidential bid. Buttigieg surprised many with a strong start in Iowa, winning two more delegates than Sanders in a caucus plagued by technical difficulties and delayed results, but his early success tapered off to third- and fourth-place results in Nevada and South Carolina. According to UMass/WCVB, he polled at 14 percent support in Massachusetts.
While Warren, having won eight delegates, sits behind Buttigieg, her supporters say that the race is not over.
“There’s a lot of media narratives right now, and I think it’s not right to count her out just yet,” Sophie Coyne, a senior at West Springfield High School, said after canvassing for Warren in Holyoke on Sunday.
Carrie and Elyse Hawkins have supported Warren from the beginning, they said, citing issues such as her support of schools and unions.
“She’s really into stopping climate change and into girl power, which inspires me,” said Elyse, 10, who aspires to be president someday.
Warren is set to face stiff competition from Sanders on Tuesday — in addition to Sanders having an edge over Warren in the polls, the Vermont senator addressed a crowd of around 4,750 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield on Friday, and drew a crowd of over 13,000 to the Boston Common the next day, the Boston Globe reported.
Many Sanders supporters say that the Vermont senator has the best shot at winning the general election, while some also caution that splitting votes between Sanders and Warren can lead to a brokered Democratic convention in July,
“In this specific moment, right now, a reason to vote for Sanders rather than Warren is that a Warren vote is essentially turning over delegates to the DNC to decide what to do with them,” said Ben Brucato of Hadley while canvassing for Sanders on Saturday. “It’s highly unlikely that she will even be in the campaign past March, let alone win the nomination.”
But Amherst resident John Page, who also believes Warren still has a chance at the Democratic nomination, disagreed with this method of choosing a candidate.
“If you vote for the person you want to be president, we’ll have the president people want,” Page said.
Amherst Town Councilor Evan Ross agreed.
“I think she has the support if people vote for her,” Ross said, speaking at a canvassing headquarters for Warren in Amherst.
The already populous field will also see the addition of former New York City mayor and billionaire Mike Bloomberg on the ballot Tuesday. Bloomberg chose to forgo earlier primary states, instead pouring over $400 million into an ad campaign as of Friday, according to Kantar/Campaign Media Analysis Group data compiled by FiveThirtyEight.
Sanders also inspired a large canvassing presence in Northampton, with a “Kids & Their Grown-Ups Canvass For Bernie” event held downtown and another canvassing event also launched at the Smith College Campus Center.
Northampton resident Bill Butcher was among those who took to the streets in support of Sanders.
“He’s been against corporations since before it was cool,” Butcher said, adding that Sanders is also “bringing new voters to the arena, which I think is important to the future of our country.”
Butcher said that he also likes Warren, but feels that Sanders has the clearest path to victory.
“I’m proud to have Warren as our home senator, but I feel like there’s a lot of momentum to Bernie’s campaign right now,” Butcher said.
Philip Psomopoulos traveled from his home in South Florida to meet up with friends in the Pioneer Valley and to also canvass for Sanders in Holyoke on Saturday.
“He’s the only candidate that doesn’t leave anyone behind, he’s the most principled one,” Psomopoulos said. “He’s the only one not taking super PAC money.”
He added, “People who do take super PAC money very much to me look like the Old Democrats… There’s a chance here for the first time to break away from that.”
Gazette reporter Michael Connors contributed to this story.Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.