USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll: What do Democrats want in 2020? Someone new - and Biden. But definitely...

[DonViejo]

Source: USA Today



USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll: What do Democrats want in 2020? Someone new – and Biden. But definitely not Hillary

Susan Page and Bill Theobald, USA TODAY Published 6:00 a.m. ET Dec. 26, 2018

WASHINGTON – Democratic and independent voters are crystal clear about the candidate they'd be most excited to see in the 2020 presidential field: Someone entirely new. Oh, and also the most seasoned prospect.

Asking voters their pick for president more than a year before the primaries begin typically doesn't tell you much beyond name recognition. Instead of asking about support, a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll tested which candidates now seem intriguing to voters, and who turns them off, in an effort to get clues about the dynamic ahead.

Landing at the top of the list of 11 options was "someone entirely new" – perhaps a prospect not on the political radar screen yet. Nearly six in 10 of those surveyed – 59 percent – said they would be "excited" about a candidate like that; only 11 percent said they'd prefer that a new face not run.

That said, close behind was Joe Biden, the opposite of someone entirely new. Biden, now 76, was a veteran senator from Delaware before he served two terms as President Barack Obama's vice president. He's weighing whether to make his third bid for the Democratic nomination; 53 percent said they would be excited about that, while 24 percent urged him not to run.

-snip-

:00 a.m. ET Dec. 26, 2018

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/26/2020-democrats-usa-today-suffolk-university-poll/2399076002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomwashington-topstories

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. Order seems about right this early in the run up to the 2020 Democratic primary...

though Beto seems ranked unexpectedly somewhat high and Elizabeth somewhat low... would've expected to see those two switched in position.

[PatSeg]

6. Beto is still very new to many people

whereas Warren is a pretty familiar face. The republicans and Trump haven't had a chance to thoroughly trash Beto yet. We'll see how things look six to nine months from now. Everyone will go through the political grinder, but Biden has already been there numerous times, so he's pretty much immune.

Of course, there is always the female factor as well. Any strong woman contender will undoubtedly be under greater assault than any man, especially any "white man".

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

7. You're SO right!! It sickens me too that a strong woman candidate like Elizabeth

is under assault the way she is, as compared to "any white man" as you say ... AOC is just startin' to get a taste of even worse treatment that WOC experience, whereas white men seem to just skate by. I have a very good feeling, however, that these strong women are not gonna sit back and take shit from anybody!!

[karynnj]

15. I have not seen any man skate by

I would argue that the strength of what each faces is more proportional to their position in the race. EVERY frontrunner is slammed, every strong aspirant will be slammed by both the Republicans AND other aspirants and their supporters. No woman other than HRC, has ever been the nominee or even a strong contender to be the nominee.

This was politics as normal. Every campaign does opposition research in the primaries as well as the general election. Many Clinton people followed her from the 2008 campaign to the State Department to the 2016 campaign. It was propably not just nameless PTB that "cleared" the field for Clinton. It was that early on she had a very strong team and was seen by Democratic voters to be their choice. The strong signals - at least from when she stepped down as SoS, that Obama signaled she was his heir was likely only part of this. Not to mention, she had nearly as much support as Obama in 2008.

I remember a barage of negative Biden stories dropped in 2016 when there were intimations that he could enter in 2015. Those attacks ran the range from memes like making gaffes, which once set are hard to eliminate, and ones that could hurt him with the Democratic base - he was a lead sponsor of the crime bill, bankrupcy bills and chaired the Clarence Thomas hearings. Those stories were dropped in quick succession and were clearly a warning of what he would face if he entered the primary.

At this point, Beto has not endured the scrutiny of being the potential nominee. Biden has experienced what was likely the start of it in 2016 and as the VP -- but not likely not the full force of attacks that will occur. I do not think that while technology changed and foreign actors were involved, HRC faced more than a white male candidate running as the nominee would have faced in 2016. Arguing otherwise is an argument against choosing a woman .. and I do not believe it is true.

Beto actually is in a political position now similar to John Edwards (2004), Bill Clinton (1992), Hart (1994), or Obama (2008) and many other . At an early point, each was propelled by their charismatic images. In 1994, Hart was almost strong enough to defeat the establishment favorite in spite of the party strongly favoring Mondale. In 2008, Obama faced a similar challenging task where the PTB designed the SuperTuesday 23 contests as a wall against anyone challenging Clinton. In 1992, after Cuomo opted not to run -- the race was between several challengers and it was June before Clinton clinched the nomination. In 2004, Edwards was hyped by part of the Democratic leaning media as "Bill Clinton with no bimbo problems", who won a Senate seat in a red state, but he never came close to gaining traction on Kerry.

The question will be that as Beto runs, will he become like Obama, who articulated a hope filled vision of where we could go and how we could become the country we should be -- or -- will he become like John Edwards 2004 (before his affair) who was a media favored shiny choice who failed to win enough voters in almost every state. One early clue might be whether, like Obama, he starts to gain solid endorsements from top respected Democrats -- like Obama's endorsements from Durbin, Kennesy and Kerry - all attesting to his ability to do the job.

[PatSeg]

16. The worst insult that Trump could

come up with for Warren was the stupid "Pocahontas" routine, nothing of any substance at all, but republicans have put her on the same footing as Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton - people hate them passionately, but have no idea why.

I think you are right about the women we have now. People like Hillary have paved the way and they know most of the pitfalls they will face. Meanwhile, we have to be careful that we as Democrats don't fall into the same old sexist traps that we have in the past. We are still evolving.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

22. I agree... evolving for the better!!

[PatSeg]

23. Yes, we have no choice!

The world need more women in control if we're to survive as a species.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

24. Without a doubt!! Us men have been predominately in charge for long enough!!

[PatSeg]

27. And we are more than happy to give

you a much needed break

[Iliyah]

2. UGH

why include HRC?

689 do not represent me.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

9. Yeah, I don't get that either based on Hillary's retirement from politics.

She actually polls surprisingly high given the circumstances... hafta hand it to her.

[harumph]

3. There's a big difference between self described democrats and independents

It doesn't say how the poll was weighted.

[ananda]

4. How about both? Like Biden/Beto

Yup

[LakeArenal]

12. Yup!!

[ZeroSomeBrains]

5. Interesting Preview of the Primary

Outside of Biden, Sanders and Hillary most of the rest of the field has a plurality of people saying they haven't heard of them. No to Bloomberg. His unconstitutional stop and frisk policy should not be awarded by becoming nominee. I'm as of now leaning Warren. We'll see who actually announces and good luck to all candidates.

[Chemisse]

8. Anyone whose 'shouldn't run' exceeds the 'should run' really shouldn't run.

Hillary had a strong negative before she ran. It doesn't help us when someone starts from two steps behind.

So that includes Sanders, Warren, Bloomberg, and of course Clinton.

[politicaljunkie41910]

10. The hell with someone entirely new. That's what gave us Trump. We want someone we know and know well

I love Joe Biden, but as soon as he's nominated, back will come the stories about him plagiarizing a paper in college. The millennials will hypocritically claim that he's too old while having backed Bernie Sanders. I'd like to see a woman at the head of the ticket. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker would make a good team.

[KPN]

18. That sounds logical and is, except it has to be someone the electorate will vote for ... over Trump

or, hopefully, some other R.

[marble falls]

11. Are we going to waste time arguing about which one in list of stellar candidates ...

any one of which would cream cheetolini, is going to run when we should be preparing to trim more GOP from Congress and state legislatures???

[ZeroSomeBrains]

14. Preach on

I'm getting sick of the proxy wars whether it's AOC or Beto or anyone else when Dems won't be able to do anything without getting a majority in the US Senate and keep the House. Let's focus on getting more governorships and state legislatures too.

This place let the Wisconsin and Michigan power grabs be a one week story at best and then it went right back into proxy war crap between different factions in the party. Remember who is taking power away from you people!

[marble falls]

20. Add to it the 2020 census and reapportioning, if we can't stop gerrymandering the WH ...

doesn't mean much. The White House is ours. We need the Senate. If Pence follows cheetolini, Pelosi will be President anyway for maybe most of two years anyway. We need state offices to develop good candidates for our future elected Federal government.

Finally the light at the end of the tunnel doesn't look like a freight train bearing in.

[Politicub]

13. Someone entirely new? Never heard of them.

LOL.

[Cold War Spook]

21. I shook my head at that one.

Then I read that some people have never heard of Vice President Biden who has been out of office for less than 2 years.

[KayF]

26. ha!

[KPN]

17. Looks to me like Amy Klobuchar has the most upside. I'll be paying some attention to her. nt

[Rizen]

19. Biden seems like the obvious choice

Parred with a relatively new running mate. Clinton and Sanders have too many people discouraging them; people don't want to see another 2016 mess. Biden+Beto or Harris would both be good picks.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

28. Yes, the "2016 mess" as you call it is like the long nightmare you can't wake up from...

hopefully, we've learned our lesson. Though Biden might be the safe pick, I do wonder if he can excite the base. I think so, and, obviously, we may soon see.

[pat_k]

25. Sherrod Brown should be on the list.

I'm sure I will be jumped on, but I actually hope Biden doesn't run. Of course, he would be by far the most qualified, but I fear that the grim reality is that his age is a serious problem. And he is showing his age.

Of all the possibilities, I would bet on Sherrod Brown. His authenticity and strength of moral principle come through loud and clear and would win votes -- including Independent and Republican votes.

[emulatorloo]

29. FWIW, Steve Kornaki tweeted this breakdown by race of the Dem/Indie voters polled

Link to tweet