Cuomo Ties Biden for Presidential Nomination Among Democrats

Joe Biden may be sweeping the traditional primary system, but Democrats are evenly divided when asked if New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would make a better challenger against President Trump in November.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 46% of Likely Democratic Voters still believe Biden would make a better presidential candidate for their party this fall. But just as many (45%) opt for Cuomo instead, even though he isn’t even in the race. Nine percent (9%) are undecided.

Among all likely voters, it’s Biden 38%, Cuomo 38%, with 24% not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Fifty-three percent (53%) have a favorable opinion of Cuomo, who has been in the news battling the coronavirus’ devastating hit on New York State. Just 33% view him unfavorably. This includes 25% with a Very Favorable opinion and 14% with a Very Unfavorable one. Another 14% don’t know enough about Cuomo to venture any kind of opinion of him.

As recently as August 2018, just 29% of voters shared a favorable opinion of the New York governor. Sixty-seven percent (67%) disagreed with Cuomo’s comment at the time that “we’re not going to make American great again. It was never that great.”

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted April 2 and 5, 2020 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

A month ago, Biden had jumped to a 63% to 24% lead over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders among Democrats in the race for the party’s presidential nomination. But that was before the coronavirus really began savaging the country.

Even then, most Democrats weren’t ready for Sanders to quit the race. 

Biden and Cuomo run even among both men and women, but women are more likely to be undecided.

Those under 40, consistently Sanders’ strongest supporters in past surveying, are also the most supportive of Cuomo.

Blacks remain strong Biden supporters. He earns 55% of the black vote in a matchup with Cuomo, compared to 35% of whites and 41% of other minority voters.

Voters not affiliated with either of the major political parties prefer Cuomo over Biden by five points.

Early last month, Biden topped Trump 48% to 42% among all voters in a one-on-one matchup. 

Leading the nation through the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, the president earned a monthly job approval of 47% in March, down two points from 49% in February.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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