Every Democratic contender falls short of defeating Trump in the 2020 election except Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a new poll shows.
Data released by Emerson College on Wednesday placed President Trump ahead of all Democratic candidates in a general election matchup, consistently earning 51% of the vote. The worst-performing Democrat in a head-to-head matchup was former Vice President Joe Biden, earning only 48% of the vote compared to Trump’s 52%.
One of Biden’s central arguments has been electability, claiming that he has the best chance to defeat President Trump in 2020. Biden has since contradicted himself, saying last week that the Democratic Party could “run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot.”
However, Sanders came out on top in the poll, earning 51% of the vote over Trump’s 49%. The poll was conducted before the Democratic debate in Nevada on Wednesday, where nearly every Democratic challenger to the socialist said Trump would win reelection if he were nominated.
“We shouldn’t have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. We can do better,” said former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. “Let’s put forward somebody who’s actually a Democrat.”
The poll also found President Trump with a 48% approval rating, 2% higher than the RealClearPolitics average. 44% expressed disapproval with the Trump administration, falling 4% since the organization’s survey last month.
The survey polled 1,250 respondents from Feb. 16-18 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
