A new Zogby Analytics hybrid (live interviewer telephone and online) survey of 682 democratic presidential primary voters reveals democratic primary voters want Michelle Obama to run! When we include her name in the list of potential democratic hopefuls for 2020, she leads with 22% among seasoned veterans Joe Biden (19%) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (18%). In our last poll of democratic primary voters Sanders and Biden finished first and second, respectively.
Among the democratic base, which consists mainly of women voters, younger voters, voters living in large cities and many minority voters, the former first lady does very well. She receives a quarter of women voters, followed closely by Sanders (21%) and Biden (17%). When it came to millennial voters ages 18-29, Sanders continues to lead with a third of millennial voters, but Michelle Obama is very close with 28%. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and vice president Joe Biden only garner four percent each of the all-important millennial vote!
The former first lady is also most popular among Hispanic (26%) and African American voters (38%); Biden comes in second with these groups. Sanders does the best with Asian Americans (28% support), followed by Michelle Obama with 21% support.
The list is rounded out by Elizabeth Warren in fourth place overall with 8%, Mark Zuckerberg (4%), and Kamala Harris (3%). Other names tested such as Andrew Cuomo, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar and Terry McAuliffe have between 1 and 2% support among democratic primary voters.
Although Michelle Obama is extremely popular with the American people, there has been no indication she will run in 2020. The numbers here do show friction within the party, but Obama is a nice name to have on the back burner. It's too early in the process to select a nominee, and one fifth of democratic voters are still undecided. But anything can happen in the next three years, and Michelle Obama as the prospective nominee elicits the most excitement on the left.
