Experience favored over gender, race of Biden’s running mate: poll

The majority of Americans in a new poll said they want former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate to have executive experience, while smaller percentages of respondents stressed their gender or race.

Sixty-six percent of the polled voters said it was important that Biden, 77, pick a running mate who has experience, the new Politico-Morning Consult poll reveals. 

Comparatively, 29 percent of voters surveyed said it was important that Biden’s pick for vice president be a woman and 22 percent said it was important they be a person of color.

About 80 percent of Democrats said it was important that Biden’s running mate have legislative and executive experience, pollsters noted, while roughly half said it was important for his VP choice to be younger than him and a woman.

The poll of nearly 2,000 registered voters was conducted between April 10-12, right after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) withdrew from the Democratic presidential primary race, making Biden the presumptive nominee.

The former vice president has already made his intentions clear of picking a female running mate, and handful of candidates have emerged, including Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams (D) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

Both Harris and Whitmer have appeared virtually with Biden during campaign events.