Liz downplays polls
Says it’s way too early to take her surge seriously
Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren shrugged off surveys showing her gaining support nationally and in some key early primary states, to place second behind frontrunner Joe Biden.
“It’s way too early to talk about polls. What are we, eight months away from the first caucuses and primary elections?” the Massachusetts senator told reporters Saturday in Charleston, S.C.
A national Economist/ YouGov poll released last week showed Warren in second place among the large Democratic field with 16%, behind former Vice President Biden’s 26% and ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 12%.
A poll of likely California voters by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Government Studies also put Warren in second with 18%, behind Biden’s 22% and a point better than Sanders’ 17%.
California, the most populous U.S. state, moved its primary this year to early March from early June in 2016.
Warren also was second in a South Carolina poll released Sunday by the Post and Courier newspaper, with 17% support among likely voters in the Feb. 22 primary, less than half Biden’s 37%.
South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg is at 11%, according to the poll.
“I’m out there doing what I believe in,” Warren said.
“I get a chance to talk about what’s broken in America, how we can fix it, and build a grassroots movement to get that done.
“And I get to do it every day.”
“I’ve done 90-plus town halls, I’ve taken more than 2,000 unfiltered questions, I’ve been to 20 states and Puerto Rico, I think we’re closing in on 30,000 selfies,” she said.
Warren, 69, discussed the latest polls after speaking at the Black Economic Alliance forum, where she proposed narrowing the racial wealth gap by setting aside $7 billion for equity investments in black and other minority-owned businesses.
She brushed aside reports that the Trump campaign is planning to sharpen its attacks on her based on her rise in the polls.
“Donald Trump is going to do whatever he thinks helps Donald Trump,” she said.
“The way that we win is to go out and talk to people all across this country about our plans for the future.”