Democrats are worried about a diversity problem within the Democratic Party because the top three potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates in the polls are white men.
Democrats within the party, which has prided itself on the use of identity politics, are worried because the top three 2020 hopefuls in the polls are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX).
A recent Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll conducted in Iowa found that 32 percent of those polled preferred Biden, 19 percent favored Sanders, and 13 percent opted for O’Rourke.
The polls have led some Democrats to believe the Democratic Party is off track because the latest polls clash with their efforts to promote diversity within the party.
“It’s almost like we’re moving backwards,” one Democratic strategist told the Hill. “We elected a black president in 2008 and 2012, we nominated a woman in 2016, so why are we now back with three white men at the top of the polls?”
It “definitely sends the wrong message about who our party is,” said Democratic strategist Seth Bringman.
Democratic strategist Patti Solis Doyle, who was Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager in 2008, said early polls are not an accurate indicator of where the party is headed, but said she does not envision a 2020 Democratic Party ticket without a woman.
“I do think that Democrats won 2018 in large measure due to women voters,” Solis Doyle said. “Women are leading movements politically, socially and culturally across the country. I just don’t see how a woman is not on the ticket in 2020.”
Bringman lamented that white male candidates will have a tough time winning over an electorate of “women and people of color.”
“A white male candidate will have challenges because our voters are predominantly women and people of color,” Bringman said. “Women candidates dominated Democratic primaries in 2018. The last two competitive Democratic primaries were won by the candidate who was the overwhelming favorite among black voters.”
“Once this thing gets going, I don’t expect the party of women, people of color, and young people to want 70-plus-year-old white men leading us,” he added.
Although Democrats are not united on who will best represent them at the polls in 2020, a poll released in November after the 2018 midterm elections found that a majority of Democrats believed Republicans are “racist,” “sexist,” and “bigoted.”
The online poll, which was commissioned by Axios, surveyed 3,215 adults in the U.S.. The poll’s margin of error was three percentage points.
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