The majority of Democrats want Joe Biden (D) to consider choosing former rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as his running mate, a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday revealed.
The survey, conducted April 28 – May 1, 2020, found the majority of Democrat registered voters, 71 percent, want Biden to consider Warren as a running mate. A majority of Democrats, 59 percent, also believe their presumptive nominee should consider choosing Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who departed from the Democrat primary race in December.
Fifty percent say Biden should consider failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, followed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) with 49 percent and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) with 30 percent. Twenty-nine percent say Biden should consider former Obama administration National Security Adviser Susan Rice or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).
When it comes to who Biden should pick as his running mate, Warren leads, edging out Harris by 17 percentage points — 36 percent to 19 percent. Fourteen percent chose Abrams, and 13 percent chose Klobuchar.
The results are based on a survey from 2,200 U.S. residents. The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percent.
Biden has committed to choosing a woman as a running mate, stating during the last Democrat debate in March, “If I’m elected president, my cabinet, my administration will look like the country.”
“I commit that I will, in fact, pick a woman to be my vice president,” he said during the March 15 Democrat debate.
Democrats remain split over the significance of their nominee choosing a woman as a running mate. Forty percent of registered Democrats believe a female running mate will make “no difference” in the general election, 39 percent believe it will make it “easier” to beat President Trump, and 21 percent believe it will make it “harder” to defeat him.
Warren, who did not issue an endorsement until after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) formally suspended his campaign, endorsed the former vice president in April..
“In this moment of crisis, it’s more important than ever that the next president restores Americans’ faith in good, effective government—and I’ve seen Joe Biden help our nation rebuild,” she said last month.
“Today, I’m proud to endorse @JoeBiden as President of the United States,” she added:
Biden has formally kicked off his search for a running mate, unveiling the four co-chairs for his vetting team — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D), Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), and “Apple executive and longtime Biden aide Cynthia Hogan,” per AP.
“Selecting a vice presidential candidate is one of the most important decisions in a presidential campaign and no one knows this more than Joe Biden,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon stated, adding that the co-chairs “reflect the strength and diversity of our party, and will provide tremendous insight and expertise to what will be a rigorous selection and vetting process.”