Democratic voters still think former Vice President Joe Biden is their best chance to defeat President Trump, but they're not necessarily sure he's the top candidate for what comes after the election, a new poll from The Washington Post and ABC suggests.
Biden maintained a lead over the field at 28 percent, though Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) trailed by 5 points, which falls within the poll's margin of error. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was the only other candidate to hit double digits at 17 percent, while South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was inching closer at 9 percent. It wasn't the best survey for any of the other candidates, none of whom surpassed the 2 percent threshold, including Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who did at least find out she had qualified for the December debate stage on Sunday.
So yet another poll supports the notion Biden is the tenuous favorite, and he was far ahead of the pack when voters were considering who would best stand up to Trump in the general election. The former vice president garnered 42 percent on that question, while Sanders and Warren lagged behind at 16 and 17 percent, respectively. At the same time, the three leading candidates were essentially tied when asked which candidate would bring the most change to Washington with Sanders edging both Warren and Biden by a point with 25 percent. All in all, the numbers indicate voters are still grappling with whether they'll vote purely in terms of policy or if "electability" will emerge as the primary factor.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Post-ABC poll was conducted by telephone between Oct. 27-30 among a random national sample of U.S. adults. The margin of error was 5.5 percentage points. Read more at The Washington Post.
-
Tariffs: Will Trump’s reversal lower prices?Feature Retailers may not pass on the savings from tariff reductions to consumers
-
American antisemitismFeature The world’s oldest hatred is on the rise in U.S. Why?
-
Trump: Is he losing control of MAGA?Feature We may be seeing the ‘first meaningful right-wing rebellion against autocracy of this era’
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
