Klobuchar surges in Bioeconomy 2020 US Presidential Poll after oil refinery waiver pledge

US Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota surged into 3rd place in the second Digest Bioeconomy 2020 US Presidential Poll, more than doubling her bioeconomy sector support since declaring that she would halt oil refinery waivers in her first 100 days in office.

31 refineries received hardship waivers in recent weeks, excusing compliance with Renewable Fuel Standard mandates for the use of renewable fuels, sparking outrage among Midwestern farmers and across the bioeconomy.

US Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey also pledged a moratorium on the waivers, and President Trump pledged to unveil a program to ease the economic impact on farmers.

In the latest Bioeconomy 2020 US Presidential Poll, conducted by The Digest:

Overall, US President Donald Trump led 12 other candidates, gaining 32.5 percent support in the bipartisan poll which featured the leading Democratic candidates along with the President.

Among Democrats, Vice President Joe Biden led the polls at 21.1 percent, Klobuchar at 13.8 percent, US Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts at 12.2 percent, US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 5.6 percent, and South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg at 4.7 percent. No other candidate reached 4 percent in the poll of Digest readers.

The Digest audience is not representative of the US as a whole, skewing slightly younger and more towards rural areas and financial centers that are closely interlinked with the advanced bioeconomy. Non-registered voters were able to vote but their preferences were not included in the totals above.

Klobuchar leads on bioeconomy policy

In a second question, voters selected the candidates that, in their view and focusing in on the issues of energy, food, health, manufacturing, agriculture, advanced technology R&D, climate, clean air, tax policy, and infrastructure change, had the right “combination of policies and leadership skills” to serve as US President. Respondents could select more than one candidate in this question, if they wished.

In the bioeconomy policy question, Senator Klobuchar led the field with 31.7 percent support, followed by President Trump also led the field with 27.5 percent support. Among other Democratic candidates, US Senator Elizabeth Warren recorded 22.5 percent support, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden at 15.4 percent support, US Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont at 10.0 percent, and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg at 6.3 percent. No other candidate polled above 6 percent for this question.

Trump expands his lead, but records well below 40 percent support

Despite the drumbeat of negative coverage for the US President over trade policy, immigration and climate change, the President took the lead in the overall poll, though the narrow margin between the President and other candidates might be noted by supporters as a sign of trouble ahead, given the Digest’s editorial focus on news regarding rural development, domestic energy and advanced manufacturing.

In all, 67.5 percent of respondents preferred a Democratic candidate in this poll.

Klobuchar, Yang polling strong in the bioeconomy

Support for Vice President Biden, Senator Warren and Mayor Buttigieg tracked closely to their respective standings in national polls. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar scored much more strongly with Digest readers and in the advanced bioeconomy than in recent national polls, and recorded a huge jump since her energy policy was released in recent weeks. Klobuchar’s support more than doubled from 6.3 percent to 13.8 percent in the overall poll, and she soared from 13.7 percent to 31.7 percent in the bioeconomy policy area.

In measuring bioeconomy policies and leadership skills, Warren and Sanders considerably narrowed the lead of Trump and Biden, with Warren and Klobuchar besting Biden on bioeconomy policy.  Booker’s numbers jumped after release of his energy and infrastructure plan last week, but not nearly as dramatically as Klobuchar’s.

Poor results for Harris, Sanders, O’Rourke

California Senator Kamala Harris, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke polled considerably lower than their standings in other national polls, which may indicate that the candidates have so far struggled to click with rural or renewables technology-oriented voters and that their appeal lies more in the realm of health insurance, for example, among other issues that were not a focus of this bioeconomy poll.

Non-registered voters lean left, towards better-known candidates

Although votes for non-registrants were excluded for the purposes of this article, in general, the support veered sharply towards Democrats and especially towards the better-known candidates such as Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, compared to the results with registered voters.

The Big Four

For now. there’s now a clear Big Four in the field for Digest readers: Trump, Biden, Klobuchar and Warren — and in many ways they represent an interesting and broad demographic and political spectrum. No one political “lane” or demographic set dominates here.

The Digest will focus in on the Big Four, and will continue to survey the readership to test if other candidates are able to make a run for the bioeconomy’s hearts and votes.

Polling results

Which US Presidential candidate do you support for the 2020 election, at this time?

Donald Trump 32.5%

Joe Biden 20.6%

Amy Klobuchar 13.8%

Elizabeth Warren 12.2%

Bernie Sanders 5.6%

Pete Buttigieg 4.7%

Cory Booker 1.7%

Andrew Yang 1.4%

Kamala Harris 1.4%

Michael Bennet 1.3%

Beto O’Rourke 0.2%

Tulsi Gabbard 0.6%

Other 4.1%

Thinking only about bioeconomy policy, which candidate(s) have the right combination of policies and leadership skills relating to bioeconomy concerns such as energy, food, health, manufacturing, agriculture, advanced technology R&D, climate, clean air, tax policy, and infrastructure change to best serve, in your view, as US President?

Amy Klobuchar 31.7%

Donald Trump 27.5%

Elizabeth Warren 22.9%

Joe Biden 15.4%

Bernie Sanders 10.0%

Pete Buttigieg 6.3%

Andrew Yang 5.0%

Cory Booker 5.0%

Kamala Harris 3.8%

Beto O’Rourke 2.5%

Other 5.4%

Last month’s poll results

Overall support

Donald Trump 31.7%

Joe Biden 21.1%

Elizabeth Warren 11.6%

Amy Klobuchar 6.3%

Andrew Yang 6.2%

Pete Buttigieg 5.8%

Kamala Harris 3.0%

Bernie Sanders 3.0%

Jay Inslee 2.0%

Beto O’Rourke 1.3%

Kirsten Gillbrand 1.0%

Tulsi Gabbard 0.8%

Cory Booker 0.7%

John Delaney 0.6%

William Weld 0.0%

Michael Bennet 0.0%

Julian Castro 0.0%

Bill de Blasio 0.0%

John Hickenlooper 0.0%

Marianne Williamson 0.0%

Other 4.8%

Bioeconomy policy

Donald Trump 25.9%

Joe Biden 21.6%

Elizabeth Warren 18.0%

Amy Klobuchar 13.7%

Andrew Yang 10.1%

Pete Buttigieg 9.4%

Kamala Harris 6.5%

Jay Inslee 6.5%

Bernie Sanders 6.5%

John Hickenlooper 5.0%

Kirsten Gillbrand 4.3%

Julian Castro 3.6%

John Delaney 3.6%

Tulsi Gabbard 3.6%

Michael Bennet 2.9%

Beto O’Rourke 2.9%

Cory Booker 2.2%

Bill de Blasio 0.7%

Marianne Williamson 0.7%

William Weld 0.0%

Other 4.3%