New survey gives boost to Warren as she hopes to take on Trump

New survey gives boost to Democrat as she hopes to take on Trump

oe Biden’s strongest selling point — that he’s the most likely to beat Donald Trump — is losing some of its edge, as Elizabeth Warren vaults into second place because a growing number of Democrats think she can win the general election.

In a new Economist/ YouGov poll, 65 per cent of Democratic voters said Biden would ‘probably beat Donald Trump’ — unchanged from June. But the number saying the same thing about Warren jumped 14 points since then, to 57 per cent, the highest of any other candidate.

In the overall race, Biden led Warren by just 1 point among Democrats in a matchup with Trump. That’s after being 16 points ahead of her in June, according to the poll.

Warren’s boost in the primary dovetails her improving head-to-head poll numbers against Trump. A Fox News survey this week found her leading Trump by 7 points nationally, after the same poll found them statistically tied in June.

Biden’s perceived electability “rests on some weak assumptions,” said Faiz Shakir, campaign manager for Bernie Sanders. “You have to excite people about where you want to take this country. I’ve yet to see that materialise from the Biden campaign.”

Sanders and Warren offer contrasting visions for how to defeat Trump — one that hinges on mobilising some of the 100 million disenchanted voters who sat out the 2016 election.

In the Fox News poll, Democrats said by a 24-point margin that it’s more important to have a candidate ‘who will restore the country and get American politics back to normality’ — the core of Biden’s pitch — over ‘a candidate who will fundamentally change the way things work in Washington,” which is Warren’s message.