Virginia joins over a dozen other states in casting its votes for the Democratic Primary on March 3rd.
And with the election just a matter of weeks away, the race for the party’s nomination is heating up.
But some Virginia Democrats are worried the party may be on the verge of nominating an unelectable candidate to face off against President Donald Trump in the General Election.
During primary season, “Super Tuesday” is commonly cited as one of the most important dates when determining a party’s nominee, and the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary is no exception.
States from across the country will be casting their votes on the same day, and the results could be crucial for determining who Democrats choose to run against President Trump in the November General Election.
More delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee are up for grabs on March 3rd than any other day of the entire primary cycle.
And Virginia’s primary is looking to be one of the most hotly-contested races scheduled to be held on Super Tuesday, according to a new Monmouth Poll.
The poll, released on Tuesday, shows Virginia Democrats are deeply divided on who their party’s nominee should be, with Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg both receiving 22%, followed by 18% for Joe Biden.
The poll comes at a time when Biden’s campaign is in a free-fall, after lackluster performances in Iowa and New Hampshire.
The former Vice President has also surrendered his nationwide polling lead to Sanders, and Biden’s apparent weakness has opened up the field for Bloomberg.
Bloomberg — the multi-billionaire who invested tens of millions of dollars into Virginia elections over the past year in order to flip control of the General Assembly to Democrats for the first time since the 1990s — has unleashed an unprecedented ad campaign across the Commonwealth.
The former New York City Mayor who has staked out a far-left position on gun control and confiscation, is now tied with Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Senator and self-described “Democratic Socialist.”
Sanders, who has now developed a nationwide lead in the primary race for the first time, has positioned himself to the extreme left in his party’s nomination race, adopting positions like abolishing private insurance and letting convicted murderers vote from prison.
But while some Democrats fear that Sanders and Bloomberg are both unelectable in their own ways — the former for being too far left, and the latter for potentially dividing the party against itself by trying to “buy his way” into the White House — many Virginia Democrats remain uncertain as to who they will vote for.
Only 25% of Virginia Democratic Primary voters are certain to vote for their preferred candidate in the March 3rd primary, while 18% say there is a high possibility they will still change their minds. Another 34% state there is a moderate chance of them being flipped in support of another candidate in the final days before the election.
The worst news for Virginia Democrats, however, is the lack of enthusiasm for the upcoming election.
Democrats are torn on whether they think Trump will win re-election, but barely half are “optimistic” about the November election, while 41% are pessimistic.
The Democratic Primary is open to any registered voter who lives in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Republicans will be nominating by convention this year, with President Trump facing little to no opposition for his party’s re-nomination in Virginia.