Since the beginning of his presidential campaign, former Vice President Joe Biden (D) has leaned heavily on the argument that he is the most electable candidate and the one with the best chance of defeating President Donald Trump.
A new Morning Consult poll — released less than a month before the Iowa caucuses — finds the former vice president leading Trump in a hypothetical general election match-up may lead more credence to that argument.
The survey, conducted between December 30 and January 5, finds Biden leading Trump 46% to 40%, if the election were held today — outperforming his fellow Democratic candidates.
However, as the Morning Consult notes, “Another 14 percent said they didn’t know or had no opinion, showing the room for movement for either candidate 10 months out from the general election.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg both lead Trump by two percent. Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads Trump by one percent, and Trump tops Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) by one percent.
According to the poll, Biden receives the largest share of support among the Democratic candidates from suburban white women, beating Trump by five points in the key demographic.
He is also the only Democrat that beats Trump among middle-income Americans, with 45% saying they’d vote for him and 43% supporting Trump.
Additionally, the poll finds that six percent of respondents who voted for Trump in 2016 said they would support Biden in 2020. Five percent said the same of Bloomberg, and four percent said they would support Buttigieg, Sanders, or Warren over Trump.
Biden does not fair as well with independent voters though. Sanders receives the largest share of independent supporters in a matchup against Trump with 40% saying they would vote for him and 33% saying they would support Trump.
Biden receives 39% support to Trump’s 33% with independent voters, but Warren performs the worst — of the 2020 Democrats listed in the poll — among that voting bloc with 36% saying they’d vote for her and 35% for Trump.
Morning Consult also polled over 17,000 Democratic primary voters and found that nationwide, Biden comfortably leads the pack at 31% with Sanders in second place with 23%.
In the early primary states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina — Biden holds a double-digit lead over Sanders, his nearest competitor.
But in the Super Tuesday states, Biden holds a narrow 29% lead to Sanders’ 25%. Warren comes in third place with 14%.
The new Morning Consult poll comes just days after the presidential candidates released their 2019 fourth-quarter fundraising results, which showed Sanders leading the candidates in fundraising.
