The 2020 speculation continues, and a new poll suggests President Donald Trump would struggle in a hypothetical head-to-head against two well-known politicians, and one Oprah.
Trump loses to Biden, Sanders, and Oprah in a hypothetical 2020 matchup
A new CNN/SSRS poll shows Trump struggling against these possible Democratic contenders.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Jen Kirby is a senior foreign and national security reporter at Vox, where she covers global instability.
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS surveyed respondents about three general-election matchups. Former Vice President Joe Biden beats Trump 57 percent to 40 percent. Former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) runs ahead of Trump 55 to 42 percent, and Oprah Winfrey leads against Trump 51 to 42 percent.
The poll surveyed 1,005 respondents between January 14-15 and 17-18, with a 3.7 percent margin of error.
Biden has the largest margin of victory against Trump in these hypothetical face-offs. He declined to run in 2016, but has said he’s “not closing the door” on a potential 2020 candidacy.
Sanders, who lost in the Democratic primaries to Hillary Clinton, also destroys Trump. Sanders, like Biden, has left the door open to another shot in 2020.
But both men share at least one major downside in 2020 — their age. Sanders would be 79 upon assuming the presidency; Biden would be 78. (Trump, the oldest man elected president, would start a second term at 74.)
Winfrey, the political outsider of this group, also knocks off Trump by a healthy nine points. Speculation over a possible 2020 Oprah run seriously intensified after her passionate Golden Globes speech — so much so that even Trump commented. “Oprah will be lots of fun,” Trump told reporters, adding: “I like Oprah. I don’t think she’s going to run.”
Interestingly, 64 percent of Americans rate Oprah favorably, compared with 57 percent for Sanders and 58 percent for Biden. (All three have favorability ratings in the low 80s among Democrats.) But the numbers in Trump-Winfrey contest might be a sign that voters are now a little more wary of a celebrity outsider candidate.
Of course, all of this polling is based on conjecture. It’s beyond an understatement to say a lot can change between now and 2020. The next presidential election is still more than two and a half years away — although that’s not as far as one might think.
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