Poll shows trouble

Poll shows trouble for Trump, Dem voters undecided on early 2020 field

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO

As the 2020 Democratic primary field for president begins to take shape, the race for a shot to unseat President Donald Trump is up for grabs, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday.

With a handful of candidates already declared for what is expected to be a crowded 2020 Democratic primary, 56 percent of those polled did not offer a candidate of choice. But while no front-runner has yet to emerge in the 2020 campaign's early going, Tuesday's poll did reveal warning signs for the president in his reelection bid.

The survey found that 56 percent of all Americans would “definitely not vote for" Trump to be reelected, compared to 28 percent who said they would “definitely” vote for Trump and 14 percent who said they would consider voting for him in 2020. Majorities of key demographics for Trump’s reelection hopes — women, suburbanites and independents — also ruled out voting for him in 2020.

The poll also showed some dissatisfaction with the president within his own party. While the poll found that 75 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents said they approved of Trump, almost a third, 32 percent, said they wanted the GOP to nominate someone else in 2020.

Talk of a potential Republican primary challenge from the GOP's anti-Trump wing has prompted the party to take steps to shore up support for the president and head off White House bids from Trump's GOP critics like former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan or former Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

On the Democratic side, out of the 44 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independents who volunteered a preference for their party’s nomination, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) split the top billing, though they only garnered 9 and 8 percent of the vote respectively.

Among the 44 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Trump both received 4 percent, while 3 percent volunteered former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who launched her campaign earlier this month, got 2 percent of the vote.

Among Democrats who didn’t offer a candidate of choice, 43 percent they had no opinion on who the nominee should be. Seven percent answered the open-ended question with “no one” while 5 percent said “anyone” would do.

With a wide-open Democratic primary, voters were also split on what they prioritized in their ideal nominee.

Forty-seven percent said it was a bigger priority to nominate a Democrat whose stance on the issues aligned with theirs, compared with 43 percent who said it was more important to find the nominee that was best positioned to beat Trump. The latter factor was more important for liberal Democrats than for more moderate ones, with 52 percent calling it more important to find a candidate to beat Trump compared with 37 percent of self-identified moderate and conservative Democrats.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted Jan. 21-24 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.5 percentage points among adults and a margin of error of plus-or-minus 5.5 points among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.