A new poll indicates Democratic voters are most excited about the prospect of Kamala Harris being tapped as Joe Biden’s running mate, but are wary of Elizabeth Warren being chosen.
While 38 percent of Democrats overall found Warren an “acceptable” choice and 27 percent were “excited” about the idea, 19 percent found her to be a “not acceptable” choice, the highest negative rating of any of the 11 candidates listed.
The negative views rose among white voters. The USA Today/Suffolk University poll showed 23 percent of white voters found Warren to be a “not acceptable” choice, while that number was 19 percent among Hispanic voters and 13 percent among black voters.
Warren was an “exciting” choice to 33 percent of white Democrats and 15 percent of black voters.
The poll found that seven in 10 Democrats think it’s “important” for Biden to pick a black woman as his VP, as 35 percent said it was “very important” and 37 percent said it was “somewhat important.” Twenty-six percent thought it was “not very” or “not at all” important.
Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, generated the most excitement among Democrats across racial lines: 41 percent of white voters and 32 percent of African-Americans said they would be “excited” by the choice. Overall, 33 percent called her choice “acceptable” and 12 percent called her “not acceptable.”
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Many of the other candidates listed did not have the name recognition of the two former presidential contenders. But former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams rose in fame after her loss to Brian Kemp, and she was seen as an “exciting” choice to 30 percent of white and 27 percent of black respondents. Among all Democrats, 29 percent rated her “acceptable” and 10 percent rated her “not acceptable.”
Former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms had nearly equal “exciting” ratings from black Americans, 24 and 25 percent, but Rice was four points more “exciting” to white voters — 20 percent to 16 percent.
Among all Democrats, 35 percent thought Rice would be an “acceptable” choice and 10 percent thought “not acceptable.” For Bottoms, 28 percent called her “acceptable” and 7 percent thought “not acceptable.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was seen as “exciting” by 16 percent of black and white Democrats alike. Thirty-eight percent found her “acceptable” and 14 percent thought “not acceptable.”
Florida Rep. Val Demings, Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, California Rep. Karen Bass and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham were also included in the survey, but most respondents did not know enough about either to have an opinion.
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The USA Today poll was conducted by Suffolk University June 25-29, with 1,000 registered voters nationwide — including 345 Democrats and 287 Republicans — questioned by live telephone operators. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The margin of error for the Democratic sample is plus or minus 5.3 percentage points; for the Republican sample it is 5.8 points.
The survey also shows that a plurality of Republican voters said that it would be acceptable for President Trump to replace Vice President Pence as his running mate with former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Thirty-five percent of Republican voters questioned said they would accept the president replacing Pence with Haley as his running mate, with another 11 percent saying the move would be exciting. Twenty-one percent said replacing Pence would not be acceptable and 6 percent said they’d be angry with such a move. One in four were undecided.
The president has pushed back against rumors that he would dump Pence for Haley, but former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton in his new book “The Room Where It Happened” said that he believed the speculation of replacing Pence with Haley was being promoted behind the scenes by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
Biden told reporters Tuesday during a news conference that he had prepared a list of “women of color” for vice presidential consideration – but he wouldn’t announce a decision until August.
“There are a number of women of color. There are Latino women. There are Asian. There are — across the board. And we’re just underway now in the hard vet of going into the deep background checks that take anywhere from six to eight weeks to be done,” Biden said.
