Bolstered by strong support from independent and young voters, Sen. Bernie Sanders would roundly defeat President Donald Trump in a 2020 general election match-up, according to a SurveyUSA poll.
The poll (pdf) showed Sanders, a senator from Vermont and 2020 Democratic presidential contender, beating Trump by eight percentage points—50-42—in a hypothetical head-to-head contest.
The survey also showed former Vice President Joe Biden defeating Trump by the same margin.
"Candidates such as senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris edged out Trump in potential runoffs, but their leads weren't wide enough to overcome the margin of error," Newsweek reported. "South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg was measured at 42 percent, two points behind Trump in a potential matchup."
Brand new poll from SurveyUSA: Bernie 50% (+8)
Trump 42% This is the FIFTEENTH straight poll that shows Bernie defeating Trump.#BernieBeatsTrump https://t.co/byF1WkjvCS — Josh #Bernie2020 (@Gacheeta94) August 11, 2019
In response to the survey, the Sanders campaign pointed to the senator's strength among independent voters as evidence that he is the candidate best-suited to take on Trump in the general election.
According to the SurveyUSA poll, Sanders—the 2020 candidate viewed most favorably by Democratic voters—would defeat Trump by 10 percentage points among independents. The survey showed Biden defeating Trump among independents by a smaller margin of six percent.
"Yet another poll finds Bernie Sanders would trounce Donald Trump in a head-to-head matchup," said Faiz Shakir, Sanders's campaign manager. "If it were any other candidate's name, I believe elite circles would find this consistent stat newsworthy for the electability argument: 'Sanders comes out atop the Democratic pack among Independent voters, who prefer him to Trump by 10 points.'"
Pointing to the same stat, Eli Clifton of the Quincy Institute tweeted, "In a different era this would be acing the 'electability' test."
shillyshally on August 12nd, 2019 at 16:37 UTC »
I take much of the news from Common Dreams with a grain of salt since they seem, to me, to be overly optimistic.
However, here they are referencing a Survey USA poll and Survey USA merits an A on 538 so I will allow myself a modicum of warm fuzzies and hope a wee bit that the world has a chance.
Former Vice President Biden 50%, President Trump 42%.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders 50%, Trump 42%.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren 46%, Trump 44% --- too close to call.
California Senator Kamala Harris 45%, Trump 44% --- too close to call.
Trump 44%, South Bend IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg 42% --- too close to call
East_ByGod_Kentucky on August 12nd, 2019 at 12:58 UTC »
I'm not a huge Joe Rogan fan, and Bernie isn't my first choice, but his interview several days ago on JRE was excellent.
My main takeaway was that once the field narrows substantially, Bernie will have a much better opportunity to make his case in a more salient way.
Of course, so will the others. But, Bernie has a lot of cred as the original purveyor of the Democratic Party's new direction. For better or worse... That helps him.
stoutshrimp on August 12nd, 2019 at 11:48 UTC »
He's been beating Trump for the last 3 years in the polls, not to mention he connects with people all over the country, as indicated by that NY times map where he has the most individual donations in like 45 states, and he's second in the one's that he isn't first in.