Former Vice President Joe Biden is surging in recent polls in South Carolina, suggesting that his “firewall” might have survived after all.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and billionaire left-wing donor Tom Steyer are fighting for second place.

A new Monmouth University poll released Thursday, which was taken among likely Democratic primary voters after the Nevada caucuses on Saturday but before the Democrat debate on Tuesday, shows “36% for Biden, 16% for Sanders, and 15% for Steyer,” with a 4.6% margin of error.

No other candidate registered a response in double digits. The poll did not include billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who participated in the debate but will not be on the ballot in the South Carolina primary, which is to be held Saturday.

Another poll released Thursday showed a similar lead for Biden:

New #SC2020 poll from SC-based political firm Starboard Communications (1,102 likely Dem primary voters; Feb 26; MoE +/- 2.82%)

Biden – 40%

Steyer – 12%

Sanders – 11%

Warren – 9%

Buttigieg – 9%

Klobuchar – 6%

Gabbard – 2%

Undecided – 12%

(54% watched the #DemDebate in Charleston) — Andy Shain (@AndyShain) February 27, 2020

The Monmouth poll noted that Bloomberg was given as an initial response by 2% of the people in the poll, and that 25% of respondents would be very or somewhat likely to vote for him if he were on the ballot.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.