Out of the entire possible field of candidates, including the current sitting President and Vice President, it’s the Secretary of Labor that comes out ahead in a new poll 2024 New Hampshire primary poll of Democrats.
Pete Buttigieg leads the field by a slim margin, but the larger point is that Biden isn’t the top choice for New Hampshire Democrats in 2024. Neither is Kamala Harris, by a longshot.
Beyond Biden’s inability to rouse his party for another presidential run, less than one-third of voters say they would even support Biden a second time around.
Here’s the full result chart with Buttigieg leading the pack in a splintered field at 17%:
Kamala Harris, the sitting Vice President, can’t manage more than 6% support? Perhaps that’s an improvement from the 2% support she had when she left the Democratic primary in 2019 before a single vote was cast.
If this poll is any indication, even Buttigieg himself is probably climbing up a steep hill simply by being associated with the flailing Biden administration.
The poll also asked for a second choice option which provided some surprising insight:
As a second choice, Harris, and Biden both do significantly worse. They’re either the first choice or no choice for voters.
Sen. Cory Booker surprisingly comes in as a consensus option among New Hampshire Democrats looking for someone outside the Biden White House. The fact that Buttigieg also remains in double-digits indicates that perhaps he’s not as stained by Biden’s failures as Kamala Harris is.
Most of the names are retreads from the 2020 election such as Sanders, Warren, and Klobuchar. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has no constituency to run for president outside Instagram, and neither does Stacey Abrams.
Hillary Clinton is still hanging around at 5% and she shouldn’t be ruled out as a possible 2024 option for Democrats despite her obvious shortcomings.
As for whether Biden should retire after a single term or stick around for a sequel, these numbers would indicate it may be time to hand over the reins:
Biden lost the most over the last 60 days it would appear when support for a second term nosedived from 54% down to just 31%. As Democrats continue losing confidence in Biden’s presidency, those numbers will wilt further.
What these results really demonstrate is that Democratic primary voters still haven’t found a national figure to rally around and get excited for. Biden became the consensus candidate in 2020 basically because he was Mr. Establishment, Mr. Boring, and it was “his turn” to run for president. If Biden’s out in 2024 and Harris is also a bust, a field full of retread Senators doesn’t seem all that inspiring, either.
For the time being, however, Buttigieg remains a possibility for Democrats in 2024 since it appears his political future isn’t completely dying in the Biden-Harris administration.
