Joe Biden in driver’s seat as Bernie Sanders sags

Former US vice-president Joe Biden has extended his lead over Bernie Sanders in the key state of Michigan.

Bernie Sanders at a coronavirus public health roundtable in Romulus, Michigan, on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

Former US vice-president Joe Biden has extended his lead over Bernie Sanders in the key state of Michigan on the eve of six Democratic primaries that loom as a critical test of whether Senator Sanders can revive his presidential campaign.

Two new polls show Mr Biden with a double-digit advantage over the 78-year-old democratic socialist in Michigan, a state where Senator Sanders delivered an upset win in 2016 over Hillary Clinton. The results came as Senator Sanders continued to attack Mr Biden on the campaign trail over the Iraq War, trade and social security, saying that he, not Mr Biden, was the candidate who could stir the excitement of voters.

“My point here is not to criticise Biden,” Senator Sanders said.

“My point here is to ask you to think that in a general election, which candidate can generate the enthusiasm and the excitement and the voter turnout we need?”

Despite his criticism, Senator Sanders pledged to support Mr Biden if he won the Democrat nomination “because we want to beat Trump, that goes without saying”.

A Monmouth University poll found Mr Biden increasing his lead over the Vermont senator, with 51 per cent support to 36 per cent for Senator Sanders.

The poll showed a large gender gap in preferences, with Mr Biden leading by 20 percentage points among women while Senator Sanders led by 10 points among men. Another new poll by the ­Detroit Free Press found Mr Biden leading his rival by 51 per cent to 27 per cent.

The RealClear Politics average of all polls shows Mr Biden leading in Michigan by a comfortable 55 per cent to 30 per cent.

However, the polls in Michigan are often unreliable and they ­famously misread the mood in 2016, predicting a comfortable win by Mrs Clinton when Senator Sanders scored a narrow victory.

Six states will conduct a mini-Super Tuesday on Wednesday, Australian time, with contests in Michigan (worth 125 delegates), Washington (89 delegates), Idaho 20), Missouri (68), North Dakota (14) and Mississippi (36).

Mr Biden leads polls in Missouri and Mississippi but is neck and neck with Senator Sanders in Washington state. Senator Sanders needs to win or perform strongly in the delegate-rich states of Michigan and Washington if he is to stay in the hunt to catch Mr Biden’s lead.

Mr Biden has received the endorsement of another former presidential rival, with Cory ­Booker throwing his support behind the 77-year-old. “When you look out at the future of the country and you see that we have the potential to (elect) Joe Biden, who is truly the statesperson in our party, who is truly the one who’s telling us to stand together, not to stand apart,” Senator Booker said.

“I am with a person who I know will see us, will see all of us — our dignity and our grace. Will see the potential of every child despite their background.”

Mr Biden thanked Mr Booker and said it wasn’t easy to back a rival candidate.

“This is hard. I’ve been on the other side of this, where I’ve stood up and endorsed a candidate after I was not the nominee. No matter what anybody says, it’s not an easy thing to do,” Mr Biden said.

In the past week Mr Biden has won the endorsements of former rivals Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Mike Bloomberg. Even so, the former vice-president called for more Democrats to back his campaign.

“We want you. We need you. There’s a place in our campaign for you,” he said. “This is going to be a unified effort of the Democratic Party, to win back. We have to be unified.”

Senator Harris and Senator Booker appeared with Mr Biden at a rally in Detroit on the eve of the primary.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia