Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s momentum showed up in an Iowa caucus poll released over the weekend. While Warren was in third place as the first choice of likely caucus participants in the Des Moines Register/Mediacom/CNN Iowa poll, behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, Warren was tied with Biden as the candidate being actively considered by the most likely in-person caucusgoers.
But Warren’s momentum isn’t felt in just one poll. The Washington Post reports that “energized crowds have been flocking to her events in early-voting states,” At multicandidate forums—most recently, one by the California Democratic Party—Warren is regularly earning the “loudest cheers” and, significantly, Warren’s flood of policy proposals “has helped shape the broader debate.”
This slow building of momentum has been bolstered by all those policy proposals and a relentless campaign schedule—without taking time for high-dollar fundraisers, Warren can spend more time answering audience questions and taking selfies that will serve as free advertising when voters post the shots on social media. It’s also a reminder that there is a long, long time until voting begins, and the candidate who appears to be struggling now may be on the rise in a month, and vice versa.