It’s now-or-never for Pete Buttigieg in the 2020 presidential race.

In the Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald/NBC 10 Boston poll released Monday, Buttigieg came in at 10%. While that’s a three-point gain from two weeks ago, he is still far off from the Joe Biden-Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren trio at the front of the race.

Buttigieg’s campaign appears to be fading. Warren’s slight shift toward the center has hurt him, as Buttigieg has himself positioned as a more liberal option than Biden, but a “safer” option than the progressive Sanders.

Southern states and Nevada are not likely to be kind to Buttigieg down the stretch, given his current placement in the polls. Should those states vote as expected, Buttigieg could be finished by Super Tuesday.

There’s only one way for Mayor Pete, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., to get back in the race: he must win Iowa and hope for a massive surge in the wake of that victory. He would be able to ride the wave of being the only candidate to have won a state all the way into New Hampshire, and have a good debate night.

He must then follow it up with a top-three performance in the Granite State.

To borrow from the late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, Buttigieg’s mindset for the next two weeks has to be “Just win, baby.”

Will it be enough? Maybe. Maybe not. But it’s the only way for Mayor Pete to have a shot in 2020.

Paul Lambert is a communications major at Franklin Pierce University, Class of 2022.