Vice President Joe Biden is a distant third among who voters would prefer to win a Democratic primary in 2016, behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), according to a new Suffolk University poll of Iowa voters released Wednesday.
Just 9.63 percent of those surveyed said that Biden would be their first choice if the Democratic Caucus for President were held today. By contrast Clinton got 62.96 percent of those surveyed and Warren came next with 11.85 percent of those surveyed. All three Democrats have been mentioned as potential 2016 presidential candidates although Clinton and Biden have dropped bigger hints that suggest they plan to run.
The good news for Biden is that he leads among who would be the second choice preference, according to the poll. Among those surveyed, 36.97 percent said Biden would be their second preference while 16.81 percent said Clinton would be their second choice and 15.29 percent said Warren would be their second choice.
On Tuesday Clinton said she was thinking about running for president.
“I am obviously flattered and deeply honored to have people ask me and encourage me,” Clinton said at a marketing conference in California. “I am thinking about it.” Warren, however has reiterated that she is not interested in running in 2016.
The poll was conducted among 800 likely voters from Thursday April 3 to Tuesday April 8. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Among subset of Democratic caucus-goers the margin of error was plus or minus 8.4 percentage points.
Correction: This story originally suggested that the Suffolk poll was a national survey. It is only of Iowa voters.
