Bolstered by strong support from independent and young voters, Sen. Bernie Sanders would roundly defeat President Donald Trump in a 2020 general election match-up, according to a SurveyUSA poll.
The poll (pdf) showed Sanders, a senator from Vermont and 2020 Democratic presidential contender, beating Trump by eight percentage points--50-42--in a hypothetical head-to-head contest.
The survey also showed former Vice President Joe Biden defeating Trump by the same margin.
"Candidates such as senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris edged out Trump in potential runoffs, but their leads weren't wide enough to overcome the margin of error," Newsweek reported. "South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg was measured at 42 percent, two points behind Trump in a potential matchup."
In response to the survey, the Sanders campaign pointed to the senator's strength among independent voters as evidence that he is the candidate best-suited to take on Trump in the general election.
According to the SurveyUSA poll, Sanders--the 2020 candidate viewed most favorably by Democratic voters--would defeat Trump by 10 percentage points among independents. The survey showed Biden defeating Trump among independents by a smaller margin of six percent.
"Yet another poll finds Bernie Sanders would trounce Donald Trump in a head-to-head matchup," said Faiz Shakir, Sanders's campaign manager. "If it were any other candidate's name, I believe elite circles would find this consistent stat newsworthy for the electability argument: 'Sanders comes out atop the Democratic pack among Independent voters, who prefer him to Trump by 10 points.'"
Pointing to the same stat, Eli Clifton of the Quincy Institute tweeted, "In a different era this would be acing the 'electability' test."
