A plurality of Republicans say Mike Pence is their first choice to run for president in 2020 if Donald Trump loses, according to a new poll released after his widely praised debate performance on Tuesday.
Twenty-two percent of the GOP respondents for the Politico/Morning Consult poll of 1,989 registered voters released Friday said the Indiana governor is their first pick to try again in 2020. Pence is outpacing both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Trump by 9 points. Thirty-percent favored one of Trump’s primary challengers: 12 percent hoped Sen. Ted Cruz, R- Texas, would run, 11 percent supported Sen. Marco Rubio, R- Fla., bid, and 7 percent backed Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Twenty-eight percent of Democrats reported their favorite for the 2020 race would be Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
A plurality of those polled believed Pence won the vice presidential debate at Longwood University, but 84 percent said the debate would not change their vote in the upcoming election. Still, Pence’s favorable ratings went up seven percentage points, 10 points higher than his Democrat opponent’s.
“Even though the VP debate had about half the audience of the presidential debate, both Mike Pence and Tim Kaine have seen their name recognition go up significantly,” said Morning Consult co-founder and Chief Research Officer Kyle Dropp.
While some say they would prefer Kaine and Pence to be at the top of each ticket, the poll shows most disagree. Fifty-nine percent say they prefer Trump atop the ticket to Pence, and 84 percent say they want Clinton as the nominee, not Kaine.
The online poll was conducted Oct. 5-6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
