Who is going to be the Democratic candidate in 2020?
It is far to early to predict this. After all, the first primary is not until January – nine months or so away. And, so far, many of the declared candidates have spent a lot of time apologising for comments made or policies supported in their past.
For the moment, though, former Vice President Joe Biden – who has not actually declared yet – holds a double-digit lead over the rest of the 2020 Democratic field in a new poll which was released last week.
In the Quinnipiac University poll, Biden heads the pack with the support of 29% of registered Democrats and voters who lean to the left, while Senator Bernie Sanders holds a second-place ranking with the backing of 19% of those surveyed.
Former member of the House of Representatives Beto O’Rouke, who announced his bid for the presidency this month, sits in third place in the poll with 12% (although so far his policies are very ill-defined) , while Senator Kamala Harris is in fourth place with the support of 8% of respondents.
Meanwhile, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg – unknown outside the USA – has surged in the polls since the announcement of his exploratory committee and was tied for fifth place with Senator Elizabeth Warren, each earning the support of 4% of voters.
So why is it that currently the three B’s, [Joe] Biden, Bernie [Sanders] and Beto [O’Rourke] are doing so well? It could just be better name recognition in a crowded field of some two dozen possible candidates in advance of any primaries or hustings. Watch this space …