Most Democrats say DNC conducting debates ‘fairly’: poll

A majority of voters surveyed in a new poll who plan to support a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary say they believe the 2020 field is being treated fairly so far by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Three years after the DNC faced sharp criticism from supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for its handling of the 2016 primary, just 13 percent of people who plan to vote in the Democratic primary now say their preferred candidate was treated “somewhat” or “very” unfairly by the DNC in regard to next week’s first debates, according to the Politico/Morning Consult survey released Tuesday.

{mosads}Fifty-four percent said that the DNC is acting “very” or “somewhat” fairly toward the 24 announced candidates in the Democratic primary.

A plurality of respondents who planned to vote in the Democratic primary, 45 percent, said all the candidates they support had made it in to the first two debates next week, compared to just 3 percent who said that none of the candidates they support for office had made the debate threshold. Thirty-nine percent said that at least one candidate they support would be on stage.

The debates, set for June 26 and 27, split the primary field into two groups dominated by front-runners such as former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on night two, with surging challenger Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) center stage on night one.

Politico/Morning Consult’s poll was conducted between June 14-16, contacting 809 voters who planned to vote in a Democratic primary. The margin of error for questions related to the primary was 3.5 percentage points.