Poll: Interest high ahead of next Democratic debates

Interest in the second round of presidential primary debates is high among Democratic voters as candidates prepare to take the stage this week, a new poll finds.

About a third, or 34 percent, of the nearly 2,000 Democratic primary or caucus voters surveyed say they are “very motivated” to watch the Tuesday and Wednesday night’s debates, according to the Politico/Morning Consult poll. About 39 percent said they were “somewhat motivated” to tune in, while 15 percent said they were “not very motivated.”

About 8 percent said they weren’t at all motivated to watch the debates, pollsters found.{mosads}

The results mark a slight decrease from the 37 percent of Democratic voters who said they were “very motivated” to watch the first Democratic presidential debates in June, Politico reports. Another 37 percent said at the time that they were “somewhat motivated” to watch.

The poll found that Democratic voters have the highest expectations for top-tier 2020 candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).  

Roughly a quarter of Democratic voters expect Biden, the front-runner, to perform the best this week — despite his rocky performance in the first showdown — while 16 percent say Harris will out-perform her opponents.

Fifteen percent say Warren will do the best, and 13 percent say Sanders will top the 2020 candidates onstage.

The poll was conducted between July 25 and July 27 and surveyed 1,994 registered voters. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.