It's poll season, and the latest poll of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, conducted for ABC News and The Washington Post, showed the usual candidates at the top: former Vice President Joe Biden, along with U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.
But, for the first time, Julian Castro cracked the top tier of candidates, sharing the fifth place position with Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.
The former Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Barack Obama still registered in the low single digits _ at 4% _ behind Biden at 29%, Sanders at 23% and Harris and Warren at 11%, but was slightly above fellow Texan Beto O'Rourke and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who garnered 2%.
The landline and cellphone poll surveyed 1,008 adults between Friday and Monday and had a margin of sampling error of 5.5 percentage points.
The ABC News/Washington Post poll reported slightly higher numbers for Castro than he has received in any other poll in recent months.
In a statement Wednesday, Castro's campaign chalked up the newfound momentum to his "standout performance" at the first of two Democratic debates last Wednesday.
That momentum apparently translated into bigger campaign hauls. In an interview with MSNBC Tuesday, Castro said that he had the best fundraising days of his campaign following the debate, raising about $1 million. But he also qualified that momentum, saying, "I'm not going to be anywhere near the top in terms of fundraising."
After the first debate, Castro, who previously served as mayor of San Antonio, also boosted his favorability among Hispanics, coming in slightly behind Harris in a nationwide Univision survey.
Poll results largely have been mixed, but many, including the ABC News/Washington Post poll, show Biden as the candidate Democrats think has the best chance to defeat President Donald Trump next year.
Notably, however, Democrats are somewhat wishy-washy on who should win the Democratic nomination, with just about 26% of respondents in the poll saying it was "extremely important" to them that their candidate won.
