Poll: Voters prioritize experienced VP for Biden over gender, race

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Politico

Voters overwhelmingly want to see Joe Biden choose a vice presidential nominee with governing experience, and they’re far less invested in whether he chooses a woman or a person of color as his running mate, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday.

The survey — conducted just after Bernie Sanders dropped out of the 2020 presidential race, making Biden the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee — found that about two-thirds of voters said it was important Biden choose a running mate with legislative and executive experience. While Biden has vowed to select a woman to join him on the ticket, only 29 percent of voters said it was important for Biden to choose a woman, while 22 percent said it was important that he choose a person of color.

Among Democrats, about 8 in 10 said it was important that Biden’s vice-presidential selection have legislative and executive experience. Meanwhile, about half of Democrats said it’s important for Biden’s running mate to be younger than him (77 years old) and for his pick to be a woman. Fewer Democrats say it’s significant that they be more liberal than Biden (41 percent), a person of color (36 percent) or religious (31 percent).

“While former 2020 candidates have an advantage in name ID, voters place a premium on executive and legislative experience for the Democratic vice-presidential pick," said Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult vice president. “This experience is top of mind for voters amid this pandemic, as seen in the high approval ratings for their governors.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/15/poll-biden-vice-president-experience-187056?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=0000014e-f115-dd93-ad7f-f91513e50001&nlid=630318

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The survey of 1,990 registered voters was conducted April 10-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The subsamples have higher margins of error.

[TDale313]

1. Of course. That said...

Biden has already publicly committed to picking a female VP, and there are plenty of women who are absolutely qualified. This isn’t an either/or.

[CTyankee]

2. Yes, and we shouldn't let it.

Unfortunately, I can hear the voices now saying "It would be nice to have a woman but..."

[TDale313]

3. It would be a really bad look for Biden to go back on that.

It’s one thing if he hadn’t said he would choose a woman, but having said it... breaking a commitment like that would be incredibly damaging. I don’t think he will. I fully expect Biden to pick a woman for VP.

[CTyankee]

5. I think he'll choose Susan Rice, if she's willing. He knows her, has worked with her, trusts her.

And I think the rest of the country knows her through her service in the Obama administration.

I just saw her on a morning show and she seems ready and able to serve! That would be a terrific addition to the ticket and a reminder to everyone how wonderful she was in the Obama administration.

[padah513]

6. Yes

And she's tough as nails too. Takes no sh*t

[left-of-center2012]

4. Obama's U.N. ambassador Susan Rice

I saw her in an interview last night and thought she’s make a great V.P. and President.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Rice

[CTyankee]

8. bio at link mentioned Benghazi and that whole stupid dustup. If she is our vp candidate, can we

expect a replay of that Benghazi debate all over again?

[Joinfortmill]

27. I think that's a dead horse.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

17. Sec State?

Last edited Wed Apr 15, 2020, 01:15 PM - Edit history (1)

Looks like a near perfect resume for a Secretary of State.

I really like her National Security and International Relation experience and education. It would be great to see her in the Cabinet, even as a dark horse for SecDef. But, I do not see her as an effective VP. She has no legislative or executive experience and has never stood for election.

I would prefer someone with significant public executive experience, preferably a Governor. Legislative experience at the federal level would also be helpful. I really want someone who I feel confident could step into the Oval Office on Day 2 and be able to do the job with as little learning curve as possible.

[Renew Deal]

7. People want an insurance policy because of Biden's age

[onetexan]

21. Yes, and i do too. We need someone ready from Day 1

[riversedge]

28. I also do.

[spicysista]

9. Yes, well....

The polls have said all sorts of things. Now, the people who actually went out to vote for Joe are looking for something, too. The polls have not been very reflective of them( hence all the hand wringing about his chances all year long). They would like to beat trump. They would also like to see Joe pay it forward.
You can have experience and capability in a number of packages. Being young(ish), a woman, and a woman of color are much welcomed bonus characteristics.

[IronLionZion]

10. They're not mutually exclusive

We have several women and minorities who are experienced and qualified. Obama and Hillary had public service experience and Trump has more years of "experience" lying and cheating people in the private sector. We're seeing how well that's worked out.

[barbtries]

11. Plenty of experienced women of color

to choose from. I like Susan Rice.

[Pacifist Patriot]

12. As people above have said, it's nice that we're in a position where he can do both.

An experienced qualified running mate who is also female and/or a person of color will not be hard to find in our party.

[beastie boy]

13. As they should.

I see far more qualified women, especially women of color, for that position than men. It is about time that race and gender, which traditionally played such a dominant role in choosing a VP, be finally set aside in favor of experience.

[ancianita]

14. So maybe a governor is acceptable. We've got a LOT of great ones.

[Bayard]

15. I still think Amy Klobuchar would be the best choice

Much smarts and experience.

[llmart]

16. He certainly has quite a few experienced women he can choose from.

I like every last one of them, so I'll leave it up to Joe to decide. I just feel grateful that our party has so many wonderful women to choose from and hopefully more and more as the years go by. Let the party of old, white men die a slow death because of their refusal to see that our world will move on without them.

[Maxheader]

19. "was important Biden choose a running mate with legislative and executive experience"

Of course!..What am I missing? Does anyone vote for these high govt positions because they lack experience?

[Renew Deal]

24. It's about having a balance

Biden is "experienced", but he is so old that people want a backup. The dynamic would be different if there was a younger experienced candidate like a Cuomo or Newsom.

McCain screwed this up because he was an older candidate and picked someone with little real experience. There was no insurance.

[scarletwoman]

20. My main concern is that Biden NOT pick one of our sitting Dem Senators.

I agree that we have an embarrassment of riches in terms of our wonderful Dem women senators, but to lessen the number of Dem senators ahead of the 2020 election would be the height of folly, when engineering a Dem takeover of the Senate is absolutely no less important than winning the presidency.

Surely there must be plenty of women Dems to choose from without taking away a sitting Senator.

[qwlauren35]

23. One possibility

is that he pick a Senator from a deep blue state where the possibility of getting a Republican replacement is NIL/Not even a remote possibility.

That actually knocks out Warren.

I want middle-aged/younger, experienced, knock Pence out of the water in the debates. My husband would be happiest with someone progressive.

I don't need a woman, I don't need a minority. I don't need anyone with baggage. I just want to win. And I want it very badly, and I don't want Biden to pick ANYONE who could mess that up.

[scarletwoman]

25. That knocks out Amy, too. MN has been trending purple the last few years - blue is hanging on, but

it's not a given.

[qwlauren35]

26. I can't actually think of any deep blue states.

Washington DC is deep, deep, deep blue. Right now, I would bet that Puerto Rico is as well.

Taxation without representation is a bitch.

[Marrah_Goodman]

22. I would like to see someone younger, very educated and to the left of Biden

None of it will effect my vote, he has that regardless. Anyway, that is what I personally would like to see and would get me more excited about November.

[Demsrule86]

31. Left won't help with the voters we need...look at the house moderates won the house in 18.

[LizBeth]

29. A woman is a must. Women are constantly told to sit back down.

[BaronChocula]

30. ONLY CERTAIN WHITE PEOPLE

Would think that gender/race conflicted with experience. Everyone discussed as a Biden RM, regardless of gender or race has had executive/legislative experience. What a friggin' divisive poll topic.

[Rhiannon12866]

32. Al Gore?