The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who would benefit most if these 15 back-bench contenders dropped out of the race

Reuters

The bloated Democratic primary field is quickly narrowing down, and the inevitable spate of dropouts will likely benefit the top-tier of the field and enable them to consolidate more support.
In the past two weeks alone, three candidates called it quits after failing to meet the stricter requirements to qualify for the September and October DNC debates.
To help make sense of where all these candidates stand relative to eachother, Insider has been conducting a recurring SurveyMonkey Audience national poll.
Here’s a look at which top-tier Democratic candidates will benefit the most from 15 lower and mid-tier contenders dropping out, according to Insider polling.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The bloated Democratic primary field is quickly narrowing down, and the inevitable spate of dropouts will likely benefit the top-tier of the field and enable them to consolidate more support.

In the past two weeks alone, three candidates called it quits after failing to meet the stricter requirements to qualify for the September and October DNC debates, which necessitated candidates to earn 130,000 individual donors and reach 2% in four DNC-approved polls.

Former Gov. John Hickenlooper dropped out to run for US Senate in Colorado, Gov. Jay Inslee quit the race to run for a third term as governor of Washington, and Rep. Seth Moulton, who also left the race to run for re-election in Massachusetts.

To help make sense of where all these candidates stand relative to eachother, Insider has been conducting a recurring SurveyMonkey Audience national poll. You can download every poll here, down to the individual respondent data.

At this point in the race, we’re mainly interested in using our polling to figure out:

What percentage of Democratic voters are familiar with each candidate in the first place.
How Democrats rate each candidate’s chances of beating President Donald Trump in the general election.
If a given candidate were to drop out of the race, who that candidate’s supporters would flock to next.

Here’s a look at which top-tier Democratic candidates will benefit the most from 15 lower and mid-tier contenders dropping out, according to Insider polling.

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City

Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

Former Vice President Joe Biden would gain from de Blasio dropping out since about three-quarters of de Blasio supporters like Biden, which is considerably higher than Biden’s performance among the entire Democratic primary electorate.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker are also poised to gain from a de Blasio exit, but New York colleague Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand would benefit the most, since about half of de Blasio supporters like Gillibrand.

Tom Steyer

Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Steyer, a billionaire financier and liberal activist, launched his campaign in July and pledged to spend $100 million on his own campaign.

Steyer hasn’t been in the race very long and is likely to stay in it for a while since he’s self-funding his campaign. But our polling indicates that fairly mainstream, popular Democrats would benefit the most from dropping out.

Biden, Warren, Booker, and Sen. Kamala Harris are more well-liked among Steyer supporters than less establishment-associated candidates like Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Read more about Tom Steyer’s campaign.

Marianne Williamson

Associated Press

Williamson, an author and spiritual guru, gained attention and became an Internet meme for her performance at the first two Democratic debates, but has failed to gain much traction in the polls.

Sanders and Warren are far popular among Williamson supporters than more establishment-aligned candidates like Biden and Harris, and would stand the best chance of winning over the 1% of the electorate that supports Williamson.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Source: Business Insider – gpanetta@businessinsider.com (Grace Panetta)