Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks as former Vice President Joe Biden looks on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020, during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by CNN and the Des Moines Register in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

NASHUA – Vermont voters initially elected Bernie Sanders to Congress in 1990 – and the self-proclaimed democratic socialist who wants to spend trillions of taxpayers’ dollars on new public programs has worked in Washington, D.C. ever since.

Sanders, however, has nothing on Joe Biden, who spent 44 years as either a U.S. senator from Delaware or as vice president for President Barack Obama after being elected to the Senate in 1972.

Nevertheless, public opinion polls show that in a Democratic Party whose average voters and candidates seem to grow younger, more female and more racially diverse with every passing election, Sanders and Biden are pulling away from the rest of the pack in the race for the 2020 presidential nomination.

Two weeks from today, the already long road that has been New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation (#FITN) presidential primary will conclude.

However, the Iowa caucuses are set to take place only six days from now on Feb. 3, so anyone hoping to make a last-minute splash should do so as soon as possible.

THE POLLS

Chicago-based Real Clear Politics uses a compilation of polls to form an average. Below will be the Monday polling averages for each candidate in New Hampshire, Iowa and nationally, starting with the Granite State.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Bernie Sanders – 24%

• Joe Biden – 16%

• Pete Buttigieg – 14.8%

• Elizabeth Warren – 13%

• Amy Klobuchar – 7%

• Tulsi Gabbard – 4.8%

• Andrew Yang – 4.7%

• Tom Steyer -2.3%

• Michael Bennet – 0.7%

IOWA

• Sanders – 25%

• Biden – 22%

• Buttigieg – 17%

• Warren – 13.5%

• Klobuchar – 8.5%

• Yang – 3%

• Steyer 2.8%

• Gabbard – 1.8%

NATION

• Biden – 28.7%

• Sanders – 23.4%

• Warren – 15%

• Michael Bloomberg* – 7.7%

• Buttigieg – 7.1%

• Yang – 4.7%

• Klobuchar – 3.9%

• Steyer – 1.9%

• Gabbard – 1%

• Bennet – 0.7%

* Bloomberg is not running in New Hampshire or Iowa.

THE ISSUES

Throughout the campaign, Sanders and Biden have regularly battled over the issue of Medicare for All, which Sanders favors and Biden strictly opposes.

“It costs $30 trillion over 10 years. Some say it costs $20 trillion. Some say it costs $40 trillion,” Biden said of Medicare for All during a December debate in Los Angeles.

Sanders, while acknowledging that his plan carries a hefty price tag and will result in tax increases, said the working class will be better with it.

“The average worker in America, their family makes $60,000 a year. That family is now paying $12,000 a year for health care – 20% of their income. Under Medicare for All, that family will be paying $1,200 a year because we’re eliminating the profiteering of the drug companies and the insurance companies,” Sanders said.

“The idea that you’re going to be able to save that person making $60,000 a year on Medicare for All is absolutely preposterous,” Biden then responded to Sanders.

In recent days, Biden has placed much of his focus on President Donald Trump. Sanders, however, continues pressing the case.

“For 100 years, presidents have talked about the need to guarantee health care for all. Now is the time. We must make health care a right through Medicare for All,” Sanders tweeted on Monday.

The two also have gone after each other’s positions on Social Security, as well as Biden’s 2002 vote to authorize the use of military force in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Biden picked up yet another New Hampshire endorsement on Monday with that of state Sen. Melanie Levesque, D-Brookline.

“We won’t be able to win back the White House without galvanizing a broad and diverse coalition of voters – and we won’t be able to make real change happen without winning up and down the ballot and across the country. With Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, we’ll do both,” Levesque said. “We need a leader who will ensure health care, protect our environment, advocate for education, reduce college debt and repair our standing in the world.”

Sanders’ New Hampshire campaign director Shannon Jackson on Monday said she believes the “people-powered movement” is quite strong.

“This is a movement based on bringing people together to finally address the critical challenges that the majority of our country face every day,” she said.

Sanders won the 2016 New Hampshire primary with more than 60% of the vote, but did not have enough national support to outlast eventual Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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