New polling suggests Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) were the clear winners of the first round of Democratic debates — and former Vice President Joe Biden no longer holds a huge lead on electability.
A HuffPost/YouGov poll released on Monday shows that 51 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters now say Warren could win in a general election, while 49 percent say the same of Harris. Both candidates have improved their electability quite a bit compared to a poll conducted in May, with Warren jumping 11 percentage points and Harris jumping 10 percentage points.
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Democrats picked Warren and Harris as the winners of night one and night two of the debates, respectively, and it wasn't even close: 59 percent of voters said Warren won the first night compared to 16 percent who said former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, while 59 percent also said Harris won the second night, compared to 16 percent for Biden.
Additionally, 58 percent of voters surveyed said their opinion of Warren improved following the first debate, while 58 percent said the same of Harris. In contrast, 35 percent said that their opinion of Biden worsened after the debate, compared to 24 percent who said it improved.
Harris' national press secretary, Ian Sams, celebrated this poll on Monday, calling the data point on electability "a BFD."
HuffPost/YouGov's poll was conducted by speaking with 1,000 U.S. adults from June 27-28 and Jun 28-29. A standard margin of error was not reported. See the full results at HuffPost.
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