Forty-one percent of likely Democratic voters said that former Vice President Joe Biden would make the best candidate against President Donald Trump if he runs for re-election in 2020, more than twice as much as the next preferred candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders at 20 percent, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey released on Monday.
The rest of the top choices among Democrats is Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 11 percent, Hillary Clinton at 9 percent, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker at 5 percent and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe at 2 percent.
Biden is currently traveling the country to promote his new book and has not ruled out a presidential campaign in 2020. He would be 78 years old if he took office, the same age Ronald Reagan was when he left the White House.
Other results from the poll indicate:
- The 41 percent of Democrats who prefer Biden is up significantly from just 15 percent who wanted him in February.
- Among all likely voters, Biden holds a narrower lead when they are asked which Democrat best represents the party and would be the best candidate to oppose Trump. The former vice president was chosen by 27 percent, while Sanders received 17 percent, Clinton 10 percent and Warren 9 percent. However, 27 percent of all likely voters said Democrats should look for someone else.
- Self-proclaimed moderates say Biden is the right person for the job over Sanders by a 34 percent to 15 percent margin. Liberals agree with Biden as the top choice over Sanders, but by a much slimmer 32 percent to 27 percent margin.
The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on Nov. 13-14. The margin of sampling error is 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.