Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders supporters have something in common: they're also cool with Elizabeth Warren
- A large chunk of Americans who said they'd be satisfied with former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders as the 2020 nominee said they'd also be happy with Sen. Elizabeth Warren as nominee, a recent INSIDER poll found.
- Among those who said they'd be satisfied with Biden as the 2020 nominee, about 41% said they'd also be satisfied with Warren as their nominee.
- And among those who favored Sanders, 45% said they'd also be satisfied with Warren.
A large chunk of Democratic voters who said they'd be satisfied with former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders as the 2020 nominee said they'd also be happy with Sen. Elizabeth Warren as nominee, a recent series of INSIDER polls found.
Among registered voters who said they'd be likely to participate in their state's Democratic primary or caucus, Biden and Sanders have consistently had the highest rates of name recognition as well as the highest rates of satisfaction if they'd win the nomination.
Still, as the race goes on, that may not continue. Primaries can get contentious, and early favorites don't necessarily waltz to the nomination. This makes the steady support for Elizabeth Warren among both Biden and Sanders supporters worth a deeper look.
Of those who said they'd be satisfied with Biden as the 2020 nominee, about 41% said they'd also be satisfied with Warren as their nominee. 52% of those same voters were also satisfied with Sanders, and 43% were happy with Sen. Kamala Harris. Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas came in fourth place with nearly 37% approval among those who like Biden.
Read more: How the INSIDER 2020 Democratic primary tracker works
For most of those candidates, that level of satisfaction among Biden supporters is actually lower than their performance among general registered voters voting in Democratic primaries: Harris' satisfaction rate is 13 percentage points worse among Biden backers, O'Rourke's is 14 points lower, both Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand and Sen. Cory Booker's are 11 points lower and Sen. Amy Klobuchar's is a whopping 21 points lower.
Warren's percentage among Biden voters is, by comparison, basically unchanged, within 3 percentage points of her overall satisfaction percentage. We see an even larger impact among those satisfied with Sanders as nominee.
Among those whose top 2020 pick is Sanders, 45% liked Warren, who came in second after Biden. That's about a point higher than her performance among Democratic primary voters overall.
Meanwhile other contenders' support among Sanders backers is seriously diminished: Sen. Harris is satisfactory to only 36% of Sanders backers, a 20 percentage-point deficit compared to her performance overall. O'Rourke and Booker each come in 19 percentage points lower among those satisfied with nominee Bernie Sanders, Gillibrand is down 13 percentage points, Klobuchar is down 24 percentage points.
Of those who said Warren was their top choice in the primary, almost 71% liked Biden and 63% liked Sanders. Biden and Sanders are generally perceived by analysts and voters to be from rival wings of the Democratic Party, but their overlap in support likely comes from the perception that they could beat Trump in a general election.
Among respondents who were registered to vote and likely to do so in a Democratic primary, 71% believe Biden would defeat Trump in the general presidential election, and about 48% believe Sanders would beat Trump in the general election.
Should Sanders or Biden stumble, Warren uniquely fares no worse among both of their bases, while each of her rivals sees seriously diminished support. While it's still early in the primary, that could give us a look at the dynamics of the upcoming next phase of the primary.
Read more
- How to pronounce the names of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates
- Here's everyone who has officially announced they are running for president in 2020
- Elizabeth Warren is running for president in 2020. Here's everything we know about the candidate and how she stacks up against the competition.