Biden leads Williamson by more than 70 points among Democratic primary voters: poll

President Biden is leading Marianne Williamson by more than 70 points among Democratic primary voters, according to a new poll released on Tuesday.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents in the Morning Consult poll said they would support Biden in a Democratic primary or caucus, while just 4 percent said they would support Williamson following her campaign announcement last weekend.

Williamson, a spiritual adviser and author who previously ran for president in 2020, officially launched her second long shot bid for the Democratic nomination on Saturday.

More than half of Democratic primary voters — 52 percent — said they had never heard of Williamson, and her popularity was limited among those who were familiar with the self-help author, the poll found. 

Twenty percent of Democrats said they had favorable views of Williamson, while 13 percent said the opposite. The remaining 15 percent said they had heard of the Democratic candidate but had no opinion on her, according to the poll.

Williamson on Sunday accused the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of “rigging” the primary system in favor of Biden by reorganizing the calendar. 

The new primary calendar, which was recommended by Biden, will place South Carolina in the first-in-the-nation position. Biden’s win in South Carolina in 2020 was key to his ultimately securing the Democratic nomination. 

“The DNC should not be rigging this system,” Williamson told ABC’s “This Week.” “They don’t even pretend anymore. They’re not even covert about their swaying the primary season. They’re very overt about it.”

However, Biden and other Democrats appear to have largely dismissed Williamson’s presidential bid. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) suggested on Sunday that no “serious” Democrats are considering a challenge to Biden, while White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre joked about Williamson’s “aura” on Monday.

“I’m just not tracking that,” Jean-Pierre said of Williamson’s bid. “I mean, if I had a, what is it called? A little globe here … a crystal ball that I can tell you. A magic eight ball, whatever. If I could feel her aura.” 

“I just don’t have anything to share on that,” she said to laughter from reporters in the briefing room.

The Morning Consult poll was conducted March 3-5 with 829 potential Democratic primary voters and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.