Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden has pulled ahead of his 2020 Democratic presidential rivals, according to a poll released on Tuesday that showed Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts losing ground in recent weeks.

Mr. Biden was the top choice of 24% of Democratic voters and independent-leaning Democrats, according to the Quinnipiac University poll.

He was followed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, at 16%, Ms. Warren at 14%, and Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont at 13%. No other candidate topped 3%.

In a poll released last month, Ms. Warren had been in the lead at 28%, followed by Mr. Biden at 21%, Mr. Sanders at 15% and Mr. Buttigieg at 10%.

Ms. Warren had held at least a small lead in national Quinnipiac polling dating back to September.

“Biden is back on top of the pack, but now there is a 3-way race for second. Buttigieg has broken into the top tier, apparently at the expense of Warren, who has taken a dive after being hammered for being too far left on health care and other issues,” said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy

Ms. Warren has faced pressure from her rivals in recent weeks to explain how she plans to pay for her universal “Medicare for All” health care proposal.

Seventy-one percent of Democrats and leaners said they favor a buy-in option for Medicare, as candidates such as Mr. Biden and Mr. Buttigieg have suggested, while 59% said they think it’s a good idea to replace the current health care system with a government-run one, such as Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders are proposing.

But among U.S. voters overall, 52% said moving to a single-payer system is a bad idea, compared to 36% who said it’s a good idea. And 58% said they think keeping the current system and adding a Medicare buy-in option is a good idea, compared to 27% who said it’s a bad idea.

The survey of 1,355 U.S. registered voters was taken from Nov. 21-25 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

The survey included a subsample of 574 Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democrat, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points for that group.

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.