Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2020 match-up, 43 percent to 31 percent, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. | Mark Humphrey/AP Photo Poll: Trump trails several Democratic prospects in 2020 match-up

The 2020 presidential election is still more than 800 days away, but a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows President Donald Trump with paltry levels of support when matched up with nearly a dozen would-be Democratic opponents.

Against the two best-known candidates — former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — Trump trails 12 percentage points and is mired in the low 30s. Biden leads Trump, 43 percent to 31 percent, and Sanders’ lead over the president is virtually the same, 44 percent to 32 percent.


Trump also trails Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — the first-term senator he has mocked as “Pocahontas,” which Warren calls a racial slur — but by a smaller margin, 34 percent to 30 percent. A plurality of voters, 36 percent, are undecided.

In fact, the poll shows that a plurality — or, in some cases, a majority — of voters are undecided in Trump matchups against the other eight Democrats tested: Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.); New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.); former Attorney General Eric Holder and Michael Avenatti, the ubiquitous cable-news presence and attorney for Stephanie Clifford, the adult-film actress whom Trump’s then-attorney, Michael Cohen, admitted paying off to ensure her silence in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

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Trump holds leads against these lesser-known candidates ranging between 2 and 10 percentage points. But, notably, Trump’s vote share in each of these matchups is stuck in a narrow band between 28 percent and 30 percent — a poor showing for an incumbent.

Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult’s managing director, notes that Democratic voters are quick to line up behind Sanders and Biden, but not the other somewhat-prominent Democrats mulling a bid against Trump.

“Democrats are showing an enthusiasm gap in likely 2020 candidates, with Sanders and Biden outpacing other potential nominees,” Sinclair said. “Our polling shows 74 [percent] and 73 percent of Democrats say they would vote for Sanders and Biden over Trump, respectively. This exceeds Warren [60 percent], Booker [49 percent], and Harris [47 percent].”





The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted Aug. 16-18 — prior to Cohen’s guilty pleas and the conviction of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, for tax evasion and bank fraud.

Trump’s approval rating in the poll is 42 percent, down a tick from 43 percent last week. A majority of voters, 55 percent, disapprove of Trump’s job performance, up from 52 percent last week.

Democrats expanded their lead on the generic congressional ballot to 9 percentage points this week, 45 percent to 36 percent. That is up from a 4-point lead last week.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll surveyed 1,974 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines: https://politi.co/2NbM6II | Crosstabs: https://politi.co/2wkK01E