Three Democratic politicians would be jockeying for the lead if President Joe Biden were to drop out of the Democratic primary, according to a new poll published by Premise.
Vice-President Kamala Harris leads at 18 percent in a field in which ten candidates poll over four percent. 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton is in second at 15 percent of the vote, with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in striking distance at 12 percent. The margin of error from the Premise poll is four percent, meaning all three candidates are in a statistical tie for the lead.
2024 National Democratic Primary, Without Biden:
Harris 17%
Clinton 15%
Sanders 13%
Newsom 11%
Buttigieg 7%
Kennedy 6%
Warren 6%
Ocasio-Cortez 5%
Abrams 4%
Klobuchar 2%
Pritzker 2%
Williamson 1%.@premisedata, 486 RV, 7/7-14https://t.co/Z1FWEpbBaP
— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) July 17, 2023
Harris ran against President Biden in the 2020 primary race before dropping out after a debate stage spat with former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. Biden chose Harris as his running mate in August of 2020 after promising to choose a woman for the job.
Clinton lost the 2016 general election to former President Donald Trump and dismissed any speculation of a 2024 challenge to Biden last summer, throwing her support behind the incumbent. (RELATED: ‘People Have Every Right To Consider It’: Hillary Clinton Admits Joe Biden’s Age An ‘Issue’ For 2024 Campaign)
Sanders was the runner-up for the Democratic nominations in 2016 and 2020. Prior to the 2020 South Carolina primary, Sanders was leading the delegate count and appeared to be on track to win the nomination. He lost to Biden after several more moderate candidates dropped out and endorsed the former VP.
Other candidates in the poll receiving four percent or higher are California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig, environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Biden has announced his reelection campaign, and so far is facing only Kennedy and self-help author Marianne Williamson.