Poll: Health care tops Dem wish list
Voters looking beyond Trump in debates
Democratic voters will be paying close attention to the opening candidate debates next week, and they have strong views about what they want discussed. Hint: It’s not Donald Trump. Health care, immigration, the economy, climate change, education and taxes top the list of issues Democrats told a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll they want to hear about in the two-night, 20candidate debate marathon in Miami. President Trump, including efforts to get him out of the White House, ranked eighth in responses to the open-ended question, named by just 4%. Fewer than 1% cited “election interference.”
“One of the key things is global warming; this is like the biggest issue of our lifetime,” said respondent Ethan Raboin, 29, a college student in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Carlos Sandi, 46, of Gainesville, Georgia, said he is looking for a candidate who is “connected to the real issues that ordinary Americans face, not trigger issues that spike elections.”
Nearly every Democratic voter in the poll called the debates crucial to sorting out a record field of contenders. An overwhelming majority, 82%, said they’ll be watching, and 86% said the debates will be important in determining whom they’ll support. More than half, 54%, called them “very important.”
“It’s kind of a dog-and-pony show,” Jacob Cushman, 38, a registered nurse from Naples, Fla., said in a follow-up interview, but “hopefully it’ll whittle down the candidates.”
The survey gave Joe Biden a big lead, but it could be a fragile one. Thirty percent of those likely to vote in Democratic primaries and caucuses said they were supporting or leaning toward the former vice president. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was second at 15%, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren third at 10%, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg fourth at 9% and California Sen. Kamala Harris fifth at 8%. The only other candidates backed by more than 1% were New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker at 2%, and former Obama Cabinet member Julian Castro and former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper at 1% each.
“There might be some flaming response from someone who just strikes me and I have no idea he would, and it would change my mind,” said Edna Wilcock, 72, a retired pediatric nurse from Sequim, Washington, who now supports Biden. “That’s why we have all these debates.”
The poll of 1,000 registered voters was taken June 11-15. The margin of error was three percentage points for the full sample, five points for the sample of 385 respondents who said they were likely to vote in Democratic primaries or caucuses, and four points for the combined sample of 618 Democrats and independents.
At the moment Americans are inclined to believe Trump, who formally kicked off his reelection campaign Tuesday night in Orlando with a rally before thousands of supporters, will win a second term. In the survey, voters by 49%-38% predicted Trump would prevail over an unnamed Democratic nominee. That included 86% of Republicans and 14% of Democrats.
The debates loom as a test for the better-known candidates and a chance for the more obscure ones. More than half of the Democratic voters said they had never heard of six of the 20 candidates who qualified to participate.
“This is going to be an introduction to those people who will actually watch the debate for a whole group of new, fresh faces,” said Rand Hoch, 64, a retired judge from West Palm Beach, Florida.
Many of the voters said they were struggling to decide between the candidate they liked best and the one they calculated would have the best chance of winning in November 2020.
“When it comes to policy and just smarts, Elizabeth Warren outshines pretty much everyone, but then I weigh with that, do I think she could get elected?” said Tanae McLean, 48, of Mooresville, North Carolina. “If you go by polling, obviously Joe Biden’s a front-runner. Do I think he has the best ideas? I love Joe Biden, but no . ...
“I’m definitely open-minded at this point.”