Sen. Elizabeth Warren leads a new CBS poll for Joe Biden’s running mate, with 36 percent of registered Democrats naming the Massachusetts senator as their top vice presidential pick.
The poll—which also found an overwhelming 71 percent of voters saying that Warren should at least be considered for the spot—cited economic expertise and crisis management as the leading qualities they wanted to see in Biden’s choice. If he wins in November, Biden has previously signaled that he may only serve one term, making his pick for VP all the more consequential.
Warren was trailed by Sen. Kamala Harris at 19 percent, Stacey Abrams at 14 percent, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 13 percent. The poll comes a day after the former vice president revealed that “more than a dozen women” were being considered for the spot, adding that “there is significantly more than one Black woman that’s going to be considered by this group, first and foremost, number one.”
The focus on Biden’s VP selection, as well as the promise Biden made to select a woman for the position, has intensified in recent days, with some potential candidates—all of them women—being asked about the accusations of sexual assault leveled against the former vice president. Abrams, who has been vocal about her desire to be Biden’s VP, weighed in on the allegations last week saying that she believed Biden’s denial.
Then on Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper posed the question to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a possible VP pick and sexual assault survivor. “I have read a lot about this current allegation,” Whitmer said. “I know Joe Biden and I’ve watched his defense and there’s not a pattern that goes into this. For these reasons, I am very comfortable that Joe Biden is who he says about this.”
Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the percentage of respondents who had Klobuchar as their top VP pick.