Buzzfeed: A New Survey Finds Kamala Harris Has Big Support For A Presidential Run From Top Democratic Women Of Color

A national survey of women of color political organizers, activists, donors, and party leaders shows Sen. Kamala Harris as an overwhelming early favorite of the group ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

The survey results, provided to BuzzFeed News by She the People, a new network advocating for women of color in politics, show a majority of respondents — 71.1% — includes Harris in their top three choices for president, if she decides to run.

The second most popular candidate was Rep. Beto O’Rourke, whose closer-than-expected Senate race against Ted Cruz in Texas this year has propelled him into the national spotlight. O’Rourke was a top three choice for 38.3% of respondents, followed by Joe Biden for 25%, Sen. Cory Booker for 24.2%, Sen. Elizabeth Warren for 22.3%, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams for 15.2%, and Sen. Bernie Sanders for 12.1%.

Women of color are a key voting demographic for the Democratic Party in elections across the country, and consistently turn out to vote at high rates. In Southern primaries, including early states like South Carolina, black women compose a large portion of the electorate and helped secure the nomination for Hillary Clinton over Sanders in 2016.

Nearly a third of the 222 women from She the People’s survey who responded to a question asking who they would not consider for president named Sanders in their top three because they don’t think he’d be able to reach women of color, a problem he facedin the 2016 election.

Sanders, though, still has signs of support on the left. In a separate straw poll of 94,163 members of Democracy for America released Tuesday morning, Sanders leads the field of prospective candidates with 36.14% of support from the progressive organization’s membership.