Jeffries? Newsom? AOC? No consensus, but Democrats want a new generation - Poll
There's no question who leads the GOP, a party that is now defined by President-elect Donald Trump.
But who leads the Democrats?
A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll found a broad consensus that it's time for a new generation of leaders to step up, even if there's no agreement on who, exactly, that should be.
In response to an open-ended question, Democrats by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 named as the party's leader officials on the younger side, a category that in national politics can go up to, say, age 60: House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, outgoing vice president Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and outgoing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
A total of only 11% cited members of the party's Old Guard: President Joe Biden and former president Barack Obama, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The poll of 347 registered Democratic voters was taken Jan. 7 to 11 by landline and cell phone.
"When I did the survey, I said, 'Kamala Harris,'" said Christy Rangel, 51, a legal secretary from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who described herself as an "independent Democrat." In a follow-up phone interview, though, she had reconsidered. "I feel that there is kind of a vacuum right now, but I would say Hakeem Jeffries. He is, I think, one of the leaders, and AOC. I think it is time for that age group, that generation, to start taking over."
Her "favorite" is Buttigieg, she added. "I still have a pink 2020 (campaign) shirt that I wear all the time."
Buttigieg is 42 years old, AOC 35, Jeffries 54, Newsom 57 and Harris 60.
In contrast, Biden, Pelosi and Sanders are in their 80s; Schumer is 74 and Obama 63.
In the new survey, no single person had a commanding hold on the Democratic Party. The top three cited were Jeffries (16%), Harris (15%) and "nobody," at 13%. Newsom was at 4%, AOC and Buttigieg at 2%.
Traditionally, it takes a presidential nominating contest to reach a consensus on the face of the party. In the poll, 30% of Democrats didn't volunteer a name of the party's leader and another 13% said "nobody."
But after the November election, when Democrats lost the White House and control of the Senate and fell short of regaining the House, most Democratic voters signaled it was time for a change.
Views of the Democratic Party had cratered among all 1,000 voters surveyed, to 33% favorable, 55% unfavorable, a net negative of 22 percentage points. (Even 19% of Democrats said they had an unfavorable impression of their party.) The GOP's overall rating was 39% to 48% − still a net negative, but less dismal.
"We need to get that perspective from the younger generation because they are providing some good ideas," said Judy Neal, 79, of Avon, Ohio. The retired educator and business owner, a political independent, voted for Harris. "I feel that as older folks, and I put myself in that category, (we should) take a lesson from and hear what they have to say."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jeffries? Newsom? AOC? Democrats want a new generation - Poll