Is it too soon to be polling for the 2020 Democratic presidential primary? Maybe — President Trump launched his re-election campaign right after being sworn in, remember — but pollsters are asking anyway. Former Vice President Joe Biden topped one CNN poll this month, and Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) led a MoveOn straw poll, but polling this early "typically doesn't tell you much beyond name recognition," USA Today notes. So, for its poll with Suffolk University, USA Today said it "tested which candidates now seem intriguing to voters, and who turns them off, in an effort to get clues about the dynamic ahead."
The candidate Democratic and independent voters are most excited about? "Someone entirely new," at 59 percent. Biden, 76, stirred excitement from 53 percent of respondents, while 24 percent wanted him to sit out the race. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) generated the third-highest level of excitement, 36 percent, but 41 percent urged him not to run. Thirty percent were excited about O'Rourke, but 35 percent of respondents said they'd never heard of him. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) had a similarly promising excitement-to-recognition ratio. There was broad agreement that Hillary Clinton should not run again.
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