By Chris Kahn

NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Former Vice President Joe Biden expanded his lead over more than a dozen other candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination this month as Congress looked into allegations that U.S. President Donald Trump tried to pressure a foreign leader to investigate him, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

The Oct. 17-18 opinion poll found that 21% of Democrats and independents said they would vote for Biden in statewide nominating contests that begin next year, up 3 percentage points from a similar poll that was conducted at the end of September.

Another 16% said they would support U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and 15% said they would back U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg received about 5% support and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke both received 3%.

The race for the Democratic nomination remains wide open. About 1 in 5 said they remain undecided, and nearly two-thirds of Democrats and independents said they could still change their minds. (Reporting by Chris Kahn Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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