Biden vs. Hillary

Worried that the controversies surrounding Hillary Clinton are wounding her chances for the presidency, some Democrats have begun pushing Vice President Joe Biden’s candidacy. Democratic voters are closely divided over a Biden presidential bid, but voters in general think he’d make a better president than Clinton.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 40% of Likely Democratic Voters believe Biden should run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Slightly more (45%) think the vice president should sit this one out. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided.

Among all likely voters, 36% say Biden should run, but 46% disagree. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Thirty-eight percent (38%) think Biden would make a better president than Clinton. Twenty-nine percent (29%) say Clinton would be a better chief executive. One-in-three voters (33%) is undecided.

Among Democrats, however, the numbers are reversed. Forty-four percent (44%) of these voters believe Clinton would be the better president, while 32% say Biden would do a better job. Twenty-four percent (24%) are not sure.

Rasmussen Reports last pitted Biden against Clinton and several other prominent national Democrats in November, and he earned just seven percent (7%) support among likely Democratic voters to her 62%. In August of last year without Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in the mix, Biden ran a distant second to Clinton- 63% to 12%.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 3-4, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

So far, the Democratic presidential race is not much of a contest, with Clinton still far ahead of the other candidates in the race. But just 37% of all voters trust Clinton.

Men feel more strongly than women do that Biden should run and would make a better president than Clinton.

Black voters are more supportive of a Biden bid for the White House than white and other minority voters are.

Voters under 40 believe more strongly than their elders that Clinton would make a better president than Biden.

Voters who Strongly Approve of President Obama’s performance think Clinton would be the better president. Those who Strongly Disapprove of the job the current president is doing have more confidence in Biden as his successor.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters who think Biden should run for the White House believe he would do a better job than Clinton. Voters who oppose a Biden candidacy say Clinton would do a better job but by a much narrower 39% to 21% margin.

Voters are closely divided in their views of Biden. In April, 45% viewed him favorably, while 46% shared an unfavorable opinion of the vice president.

Two federal inspectors general have asked the U.S. Justice Department to open an investigation into how Clinton handled sensitive information on her private e-mail account while serving as secretary of State. Most voters continue to have national security concerns about Clinton’s behavior but doubt that the federal government will do anything about it.

In a recent speech criticizing African political leaders who stay too long in office, Obama said he could win a third term if he ran for president again but acknowledged that U.S. law does not allow it. Could Obama win again?

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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