In spite of all the talk of a “divide” in the Democratic party, a recent poll by PPP Polling shows that when it comes to major policies, moderate and progressive Democrats are pretty much in agreement.
The poll of 588 Democratic primary voters was taken between August 1st and 4th using a combination of telephone and online interviews, with a margin of error of ± 4.0%.
On the issues
To start with, the poll asked how the respondent would describe themselves within the party. A little over half, 54%, said they would describe themselves as “moderate,” while 46% said they would describe themselves as more “progressive.”
Once that was established, here’s how the two groups responded when asked “How likely is it that you would support a candidate that takes the following positions?”
| Position | Progressives | Moderates |
| Medicare for All | 59% | 52% |
| Implement a “wealth tax” | 82% | 72% |
| Implement the Green New Deal | 73% | 60% |
| Pass stronger gun safety measures | 70% | 58% |
| Uphold the right to an abortion | 70% | 58% |
| Impeach President Trump | 70% | 60% |
Presidential candidate polling
When it comes to the 2020 field, there are 9 Democrats polling above 1% as of this poll:
- Joe Biden (36%)
- Elizabeth Warren (13%)
- Bernie Sanders (12%)
- Kamala Harris (10%)
- Cory Booker and Pete Buttigieg (4%)
- Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, and Michael Bennet (2%)
And on “net favorability” ratings (subtract your unfavorables from your favorables), the report found:
There are 9 Democrats who have net favorability ratings greater than +10. From the top 9 in terms of horse race support, everyone is included in that group except for Yang (+9) and Bennet (+7) who narrowly fall short. Two candidates who are stuck at 1% show potential room for growth because they have good favorability numbers- Julian Castro (+20 net favorability) and Beto O’Rourke (+13).
The top 9 Democratic candidates in net favorability are Biden (+59), Sanders (+36), Warren (+35), Booker (+27), Harris (+26), Buttigieg (+24), Castro (+20), O’Rourke (+13), and Klobuchar (+12).
And some off-beat questions to finish
PPP Polling often throws in some off-beat questions just to keep things fun and interesting. In this poll, it was dogs vs cats, and Coke vs Pepsi.
- 47% of primary voters prefer dogs and 22% prefer cats.
- For each of the top contenders there is a clear dog/cat lane.
- Joe Biden (39% among dog lovers, 31% among cat lovers) and Kamala Harris (12% among dog lovers, 7% among cat lovers) are the dog candidates.
- Bernie Sanders (21% among cat lovers, 8% among dog lovers) and Elizabeth Warren (14% among cat lovers, 9% among dog lovers) are the cat candidates.
- 40% of primary voters prefer Coke, to 21% who prefer Pepsi.
- The biggest candidate support divides are for Bernie Sanders, who gets 19% among Pepsi drinkers but just 7% among Coke drinkers and Kamala Harris, who gets 11% among Coke drinkers but just 6% among Pepsi drinkers.
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