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Any Generic Democrat Will Do! Poll Shows Unnamed Dem Beats Joe Biden in Beating Trump

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden delivers a keynote address regarding the future of the middle class, at the Brookings Institution, on May 8, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Any Generic Democrat Will Do! Poll Shows Unnamed Dem Beats Joe Biden in Beating Trump

If election were held today, 48 percent of voters said they'd back a nameless Democratic candidate and just 35 percent would pick Trump

A new poll out Wednesday reveals that a generic Democratic candidate has a better chance than former Vice President Joe Biden of beating President Donald Trump.

The new Morning Consult/Politico poll (pdf) shows that if the 2020 election were held today, 44 percent of voters would choose Biden, while 37 percent would pick Trump, giving the former vice president a 7-point edge.

If the choice were between re-electing Trump and a nameless Democratic candidate, however, 48 percent said they'd back the Democratic candidate and just 35 percent would pick Trump, a 13-point difference.

The online survey of 1,993 registered voters was conducted July 26-30, a week after Trump said, "I dream about Biden" being the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020 and argued that President Barack Obama "took him out of the garbage heap."

Biden, who's stressed he's "not Bernie Sanders," has said he'd announce by January whether or not he'll be running.

According toCNN analyst Harry Enten, "It's certainly conceivable that someone who isn't very liberal could win the Democratic nomination in 2020. It will be difficult, however. We saw Clinton tack to the left in 2016 because she felt the pressure on the left from Sanders. Expect the pressure to be even greater on Democrats heading into 2020."

Just ahead of her win in New York's congressional primary, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it was time "to talk about the future of the Democratic Party," and argued that "what we desperately need right now are fierce advocates for economic, social, and racial justice."

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