Biden and Sanders Favored Most by New Hampshire Voters for 2020

According to the latest poll from Saint Anselm College Survey Center at the New Hampshire Insititute of Politics, former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) are most favored by New Hampshire voters ahead of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

Of the 600 surveyed, 258 respondents indicated they would vote in the primary. The phone survey then presented them with names of those running for the Democratic presidential nomination, or those that have indicated that they are strongly considering it, and asked them to give their impression of each.

Of the 14 names listed, former Vice President Biden had the highest favorability at 80 percent.

“He is very well-known and very well-liked,” NHIOP Executive Director Neil Levesque said of Biden. “Whether or not he gets into this race is a huge factor.”

Along with Biden, both Sanders and Warren are universally recognized. However, Sanders and Warren have the highest unfavorable impressions from survey respondents, with the exception of Michael Bloomberg who ranked most unfavorable in the survey results.

First-time candidates Harris and Booker were found to be very well-liked in the survey. Of those surveyed, nearly eight percent ranked Harris as unfavorable, while a little more than nine percent view Booker unfavorably.

As for favorability, Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke ranked sixth with 52 percent.

“Less well-known are announced candidates Julian Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Amy Klobuchar, all of whom have a solid base of favorable opinion to build on,” Levesque said. “Rounding out the field at this time are John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Buttigieg.”

Sen. Harris is set to be the featured speaker at the next installment of “Politics and Eggs,” a forum for presidential candidates, political leaders, and other political analysts and commentators as they visit New Hampshire, home of the nation’s first presidential primaries.

The poll described above was conducted via phone from February 6-9, 2019. The Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll has a margin of sampling error of 4.0% with a confidence interval of 95%; the margin of sampling error on questions specific to the 1st and 2ndCongressional Districts is 5.8% and 5.6% respectively.