A new Emerson College poll puts California Sen. Kamala Harris and Venture for America founder Andrew Yang as the most favored to be the Democratic vice-presidential pick, Newsweek reports. According to the survey, 20 percent of Democratic primary voters prefer Harris, while 18 percent would rather Yang. In third was former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with 16 percent support.
Lower on the list was former Georgia Rep. Stacey Abrams with 8 percent support, followed by former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke with 6 percent and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown with 5 percent. At the bottom of the list was former Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum with 3 percent support and Minnesota Rep. Rep Ilhan Omar with 1 percent.
Interestingly, 23 percent of respondents said they would rather vote “someone else” other than the eight choices listed in the survey.
Last month, a New York Times report claimed that Harris was considering an endorsement for former Vice President Joe Biden , who has experienced a steep decline in polling average in recent weeks. According to RealClearPolitics averages, this decline appears to parallel the rise of Michael Bloomberg .
According to Rose Kapolczynski, a longtime Democratic strategist in California, Harris’ endorsement of Biden could have many effects on her political image and future career.
“It just depends on where she wants to go. Is she interested in vice president or a cabinet position? Or is she looking ahead to another campaign and how she’ll be positioned then?”
I asked Kamala Harris if she’s sick of all the talk of how she’s the perfect VP. She responded: I think that Joe Biden would be a great running mate. That as vice president he’s proven he knows how to do the job. pic.twitter.com/9wHwOlKoxw
— Emily Goodin (@Emilylgoodin) May 15, 2019
As for Yang, he has yet to endorse a candidate, although he said he would throw his support behind anyone who supports a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 per month, which was his campaign’s signature proposal, branded as the Freedom Dividend.
“We’re already talking about the next steps,” he said during a recent appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe .
“And if anyone wants my endorsement, all you have to do is come out for universal basic income, say every American should get $1,000 a month, and then I will be there with you on the trail the next day.”
Per Yahoo News , Yang previously said he would be open to taking the vice president slot on a 2020 ticket.
“I’m going to help get Donald Trump out of office and help us win, and that’s in any capacity,” he said.
Speaking to the publication, Yang said Biden is the person he has interacted with the most. The 45-year-old serial entrepreneur noted that the former Vice President had expressed concern about the fourth industrial revolution, which is one of the core problems Yang’s campaign addressed.
