Poll finds Warren most popular Biden VP choice among college students

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is the most popular choice to be presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate among college students, according to a new poll. 

Warren was the pick of 28 percent in the Axios-College Reaction poll released Tuesday, compared to 19 percent for Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is African American and Indian American. Harris is seen as many as the favorite to be named Biden’s vice presidential candidate.

Among college students who identified as Democrats, 33 percent picked Warren compared to 25 percent for Harris.

The poll comes as Biden faces calls to pick a woman of color as his vice presidential pick.

Among Democratic students, Harris was followed by former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams at 14 percent and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) at 11 percent.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who has taken herself out of the running for vice president, was next at 6 percent. 

She was followed by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) at 4 percent, former national security adviser Susan Rice at 3 percent, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) at 2 percent, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) at 1 percent and Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) at 1 percent.

Overall, Abrams was third with 13 percent, followed by Whitmer with 11 percent and Klobuchar with 8 percent.

Biden has pledged to choose a woman running mate, but he has not committed to pick a woman of color for the ticket. 

The same poll also found that 60 percent of Democratic and Republican college students alike said they would “definitely” vote in November even if their only choice is to vote in person and risk getting the coronavirus. 

Asked if they will vote if they can only vote by mail, 84 percent of Democratic students said they “definitely will” while just 67 percent of Republican students said the same. 

President Trump has railed against vote-by-mail efforts in recent months, making unsubstantiated claims that it leads to mass voter fraud. 

The Axios-College Reaction poll is based on a survey of 854 total panelists. The poll was conducted June 16-17. There is a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points. 

The surveys were administered digitally and used college email addresses as an authentication tool to ensure enrollment in a four-year institution. Respondents in the poll were randomly selected from a respondent database.