AP Photo/Jessica Hill
- Democratic primary voters perceive former US Senator and Vice President Joe Biden to be far more experienced than the rest of the 2020 presidential primary field, new INSIDER polling found.
- To capture how every candidate’s experience is perceived in a single number, in a recent survey we asked respondents to rank the 2020 candidates they knew of by how experienced they saw the candidate to be.
- Using the results of this question, we were able to calculate a "win percentage," where we can divide the times a candidate was ranked higher than a rival by the total number of times they were compared to a rival.
- Biden won 90% of match-ups, meaning that when he was ranked, he was ranked higher than other ranked candidates 90% of the time.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Democratic primary voters perceive former US Senator and Vice President Joe Biden to be far more experienced than the rest of the 2020 presidential primary field, new INSIDER polling found.
To capture how every candidate’s experience is perceived in a single number, we asked respondents to rank the 2020 candidates they knew of by how experienced they saw the candidate to be.
Once the poll respondents indicated which of the candidates they had heard of, INSIDER asked them: "Based on what you know about candidates history of public service and experience with government, can you rank the following people based on how prepared they are for the rigors of the presidency?"
Using the results of this question, we were able to calculate a "win percentage," where we can divide the times a candidate was ranked higher than a rival by the total number of times they were compared to a rival.
Read more: How likable every 2020 presidential candidate is, ranked
Biden, who was President Barack Obama’s vice president for eight years following a 36-year-long career in the US Senate, won 90% of match-ups, meaning that when ranked, he was ranked higher than 90% of other ranked candidates.
Meanwhile, both Sen. Bernie Sanders, the highest-ranked senator, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren were ranked as the more experienced candidate in more than 65% of their matchups.
The survey didn’t reveal any clear gender-based trends in how respondents viewed male compared to female candidates.
While male respondents ranked Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as being more experienced than female respondents, the opposite was true for Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, for whom women’s perception of their experience was higher than men’s.
And for some male candidates, such as Rep. Eric Swalwell, the highest-ranked member of the House, Rep. Tim Ryan and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, female respondents’ perception of their experience was higher than male respondents’ perceptions by significant margins.
In an unlikely twist, Swalwell still ranked higher than Sen. Michael Bennet and Gov. Steve Bullock, the lowest-ranked senators and governors. Here’s how our poll respondents ranked the candidates:
SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn’t try to weight its sample based on race or income. Total 1,168 respondents collected May 17 to 18, 2019, a margin of error plus or minus 3.08 percentage points with a 95% confidence level.
Former Vice President Joe Biden won 90% of match-ups, meaning that when ranked, he was ranked higher than 90% of other ranked candidates.
Associated Press
Read more about Joe Biden’s campaign.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has served in Congress since 1991, was ranked as more experienced than other candidates 71% of the time — the highest-ranked Senator.
Reuters
Read more about Bernie Sanders’ campaign.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a former law professor, was perceived as more experienced than 65% of other ranked candidates when they were ranked.
Reuters/Rachel Mummey
Read more about Elizabeth Warren’s campaign.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- Joe Biden’s running as a bipartisan moderate, but he keeps flip-flopping on key policy issues to please the Democratic base
- How likable every 2020 presidential candidate is, ranked
- Democratic presidential candidates are introducing ambitious plans to get more Americans into college without adding to the $1 trillion mountain of student debt
SEE ALSO: POWER RANKING: Here’s who has the best chance of becoming the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee
Source: Business Insider – gpanetta@businessinsider.com (Grace Panetta)