Progressives Come for Biden: Left-Wing Group Polls Bernie and Warren Head-to-Head Against Ex-Veep, He Beats Them Both
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A progressive group conducted a poll to see which of their preferred candidates — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) or Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) — was best-equipped to take down former Vice President Joe Biden in a head-to-head Democratic primary, yet another stark indicator of the divisions within the Democratic Party. Biden beat them both, but Warren performed better.
While other candidates argue over who would be a stronger candidate against President Donald Trump, supporters of Warren are arguing that their candidate would have the best shot at defeating Biden based on a new poll commissioned by Data for Progress.
Biden walloped Sanders head-to-head by a 53 to 41 percent margin, but beat Warren by a slim two-points, 47 percent to 45 percent. Biden also beat both of his rivals in a hypothetical three-way primary, garnering 42 percent support, versus 30 percent for Warren and 23 percent for Sanders.
The results have the Progressive Change Campaign Committee — which describes itself as the “Warren wing” of the Democratic Party — pretty excited, according to Politico:
“The data shows voters pretty clearly that if you don’t want Joe Biden as the nominee, the best chance we have to prevent that is this contest boiling down to Warren and Biden,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Warren-aligned Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “She can unite and energize the party and is the best foot forward for progressives to get past Biden and Trump.”
This pitch for Warren comes as Sanders surges in polls leading up to the Iowa caucuses, while Warren remains mired in a polling slump that started in October and hasn’t gotten much better. The former VP has also consistently polled best against Trump in general election polls, but Sanders consistently beats Trump as well, and performs better than Warren.
But the divide that the very existence of this poll reflects could become the biggest obstacle to defeating Trump if the combined supporters of Sanders and Warren stay home in large numbers should Biden win the nomination, or if the Biden coalition does the same in the event that Warren and Sanders combines delegates to defeat Biden, or if either of the progressives win outright and are unable to turn out the black voters who overwhelmingly support Biden.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, they seem to have a long way to go before they can stop figuring out how to beat each other, and start working on beating Trump.
