• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. ranked-choice voting>

Warren would best Biden in ranked-choice nominating contest, poll shows

Bill Theobald
September 12, 2019
Warren would best Biden in ranked-choice nominating contest, poll shows

A billboard in San Francisco in 2011 explained the ranked-voting process used to select city officials.

Flickr

If Democrats were given the opportunity to vote for more than one candidate among those seeking the presidential nomination, then Elizabeth Warren would win, according to a poll out Thursday by advocates of ranked-choice voting.

The unusual survey is sure to be cited not only by the Massachusetts senator – as evidence she enjoys more widespread enthusiasm than her rivals, and the potential to expand her base as the field shrinks -- but also by those who say democracy is better served by a voting system that rewards consensus candidates.


The FairVote sponsored poll of 1,002 likely Democratic primary voters has former Vice President Joe Biden as the top choice of 27 percent, the same as his average share in all the national polling done since Labor Day. The Massachusetts senator was at 24 percent when voters were asked to make a singular choice, a higher-than average showing for her.

But when these same voters used ranked-choice voting – under which they could vote for more than one candidate and put their selection in order of preference – Warren showed a greater depth of support than Biden.

Using such a system, Warren would end up besting Biden 53 percent to 47 percent.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

"In contrast to how most single choice opinion polling is used, ranked-choice surveys allow a greater understanding of how voters are considering a field of options, what depth of support candidates have in rankings and how one candidate's fall over the course of the campaign could affect others' rise," said Rob Richie, the CEO of FairVote, which commissioned the survey.

Warren's victory under the ranked-choice system, according to the poll, would come mainly from being supported relatively strongly by those who would first choose Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont or Sen. Kamala Harris of California. Respondents who made those two their top picks favored Warren over Biden as their second choice by a wide margin.

Warren also had the highest favorability ranking of the 20 candidates polled, at 74 percent, followed by both Biden and Sanders at 69 percent. And in a head-to-head matchup, she outpolled Biden 49 percent to 43 percent.

The survey also found support for the ranked-choice voting approach. Almost all of those polled did choose more than one candidate when given the chance. More than two-thirds described the process of choosing more than one candidate as easy. And about two-thirds said they favored ranked-choice voting, compared to 13 percent who opposed it.

Respondents said that health care, climate change and gun violence were the top issues they wanted to see addressed in the upcoming debates among the Democratic candidates.

Critics of ranked-choice voting fear that it would confuse voters.

Democrats in several states -- including Hawaii, Alaska, Kansas and Wyoming -- are planning to use ranked-choice voting in their 2020 primaries, although the Democratic National Committee has yet to sign off on states' voting plans. Plans for the presidential debut of so-called RCV in the crucial first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses seem to have been scraped, however.

From Your Site Articles
  • Who knew? Ranked-choice voting is coming to the presidential ... ›
  • Ranked-choice voting has momentum and a track record of success ... ›
  • Ranked-choice poll showed Harris favored for VP nod - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Ranked-choice voting (RCV) - Ballotpedia ›
  • Ranked Choice Voting / Instant Runoff- FairVote ›
ranked-choice voting

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

The American experiment

Kevin Frazier
22h

The Fahey Q&A with Jasmine Hull of Deliberations.US

Katie Fahey
Courtney Fiedler
22h

Podcast: What does the House Speaker election say about the Republican Party?

Our Staff
22h

A few lawmakers make election legislation a priority in 2023

David Meyers
23 January

Part III: The failed constitutional convention campaign finance marketplace

J.H. Snider
23 January

House Speaker McCarthy’s powers are still strong – but he’ll be fighting against new rules that could prevent anything from getting done

Stanley M. Brand
20 January
Videos

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Our Staff

Video: Veterans for Political Innovation - Who we are

Our Staff

Video: Want to fight polarization? Take a vacation!

Our Staff

Video: Kevin McCarthy is Speaker, but he's got a tough job ahead

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirst Friday End of Year

Our Staff

Video: Minnesota Gov. Walz asks fellow Democrats to ‘Think Big’ when it comes to fixing voting issues

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: What does the House Speaker election say about the Republican Party?

Our Staff
22h

Video: Chaos or calm: Building confidence in Pennsylvania elections

Our Staff
19 January

Podcast: Pushing back against polarization

Our Staff
18 January

Podcast: Nationalism, race, and American party politics

Our Staff
17 January
Recommended
image of Statue of Liberty and American flag.

The American experiment

Civic Ed
Jasmine Hull is Chief Operating Officer for Deliberations.US.

The Fahey Q&A with Jasmine Hull of Deliberations.US

Civic Ed
Podcast: What does the House Speaker election say about the Republican Party?

Podcast: What does the House Speaker election say about the Republican Party?

Podcasts
A few lawmakers make election legislation a priority in 2023

A few lawmakers make election legislation a priority in 2023

Elections
Part III: The failed constitutional convention campaign finance marketplace

Part III: The failed constitutional convention campaign finance marketplace

State
Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Elections