Bernie Sanders Tied With Joe Biden in Democratic Race Nationally and Among African American Community, Polls Say

Recent polls indicate that not only has Senator Bernie Sanders risen to a virtual tie with former Vice President Joe Biden in the Democratic presidential race among registered voters nationally, but Sanders has also made headway with African-American voters.

Out of all the candidates vying for the chance to run against the incumbent President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, 20 percent of registered Democrats and independent voters told a Reuters/Ipsos poll they would support Sanders.

Biden came in just behind Sanders with 19 percent, while Senator Elizabeth Warren garnered 9 percent of the poll.

Sanders has also gained more support with African-American voters according to a poll conducted by VICE News and Ipsos.

While 54 percent of African-American voters said they would consider voting for Biden, 56 percent said they would consider voting for Sanders, numbers the poll considers to be a "statistical tie."

Sanders also has a 10 percent lead over Biden among the Hispanic community with Sanders grabbing 47 percent of its support, while Biden has 37 percent.

"Despite frequently being described as a 'socialist' or 'too liberal,' Bernie Sanders has as many, if not more, minority Americans considering voting for him as any other candidates," Ipsos Public Affairs Vice President Chris Jackson told VICE News.

Biden has been particularly vocal about his support from African American voters, telling the audience at a November Democratic debate, "I come out of the black community."

Biden has also played upon his personal history as vice president during the Obama administration.

"If you notice," Biden said, "I have more people supporting me in the black community, that have announced for because they know me. They know who I am."

Sanders and Biden clashed at Tuesday's Democratic debate over Biden's foreign policy record. Biden voted to approve military action during the Bush administration which sent troops into Iraq. Biden has since said that his vote was a "mistake."

Sanders voted against the Iraq War, telling the crowd at the debate that he thought President Bush was "lying" about the administration's motivation for invading Iraq.

"I said 13 years ago it was a mistake to give the president the authority to go to war if, in fact, he couldn't get inspectors into Iraq to stop what was thought to be the attempt to get a nuclear weapon," Biden said. "It was a mistake and I acknowledge that."

Sanders said the Iraq War was "the worst foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country."

"As Joe [Biden] well knows, we lost 4,500 brave troops," Sanders said. "Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. We have spent trillions of dollars on that endless war, money which should go into health care and education and infrastructure in this country."

"I did everything I could to prevent that war," Sanders added. "Joe saw it differently."