Democrats are split on whether it’s more important to them to support a 2020 candidate who shares their values, versus a candidate with the best chance at beating President Trump, according to a survey released Friday.
Forty-seven percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said it’s more important to them to have a nominee for president who shares their position on most issues, according to the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
Meanwhile, 46 percent said it’s more important to have a nominee with the best chance of beating Mr. Trump.
Self-described “progressives” leaned toward electability, with 50 percent saying it was more important to have someone who could defeat Mr. Trump versus 43 percent who leaned toward a candidate who shared their values.
The numbers were reversed for moderates, with 50 percent saying that having a candidate who shares their positions was more important and 44 percent putting more importance on having a candidate with the best chance at beating Mr. Trump.
Fifty-seven percent of men said sharing positions was more important, while 51 percent of women said having the best chance to beat Mr. Trump was more important.
More than eight in 10 of those surveyed said they still hadn’t made up their minds on which Democratic candidate they plan to support.
The survey was conducted from May 31-June 4. The subsample of 339 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents had a margin of error of plus or minus 7.6 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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