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Coming down to crunch time, Super Tuesday to start in 14 states

A Christopher Newport University poll gave Biden the edge in Virginia.

NORFOLK, Va. — On Saturday, Bernie Sanders came to town. On Sunday, it was Joe Biden.

Both candidates look to perform strongly in Virginia on Tuesday, according to a poll that came out Friday from Christopher Newport University's Wason Center.

It showed Biden leading with 22 percent, Sanders at 17 percent, and Mike Bloomberg at 13 percent. Pete Buttigieg came in fourth at eight percent.

But now that Buttigieg has dropped out, are his voters likely to help anyone else?

"I think the conventional wisdom is that Pete Buttigieg's departure is going to help Joe Biden more than it's going to help anyone else," said CNU Political Science Professor and Wason Center pollster Quentin Kidd.

Additionally, Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the race on Monday, following Buttigieg, and Tom Steyer quit on Saturday.

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Kidd says the mass exodus is no accident.

"There was collective anxiety that broke out among moderate Democrats in the last week about Bernie Sanders and the fact that Bernie Sanders could lock up the Democratic nomination after Tuesday," Kidd said.

Fourteen states in all are in play Tuesday. The big one is California with 425 delegates and Texas is second with 228. North Carolina is third with 110 delegates. Virginia trails at fourth with 99 delegates.

"Virginia is more important than just the 99 delegates at stake tomorrow," said Kidd. "Virginia also is the kind of state that Democrats need to do well in to demonstrate they can do well in a general election."

Turnout for presidential primaries in Virginia has not been great.

Last time in 2016 for the Democratic primary, it was 15 percent. For the Republican primary it was 19 percent.

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