Voters prefer Andrew Cuomo over Joe Biden, poll finds

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Most Democrat voters want New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to replace Joe Biden as their presidential nominee, according to a new conservative poll released Friday.

The national poll found 56 per cent of Democrats prefer Mr Cuomo while 44 per cent prefer Mr Biden, who is the presumptive nominee following the withdrawal of Bernie Sanders in the wake of the Wisconsin primary.

The findings come as Mr Cuomo's profile increases with his daily coronavirus press briefings and Democrats fend off questions about whether Mr Biden has been absent or suffering a mental decline during the pandemic crisis.

The poll, commissioned by conservative group Club for Growth and first reported by The New York Post, was conducted between 3-6 April among 1000 Democrat, Republican and independent voters. It found Hispanic voters, young people, women and liberals are more likely to choose Mr Cuomo over Mr Biden.

Among respondents of any party who voted for Hilary Clinton in 2016, the percentage of voters preferring Mr Cuomo increased to 57 per cent. Black voters also favoured Mr Cuomo over Mr Biden, 55 per cent to 45 per cent.

It is the second major poll in recent days that suggests Democratic voters are considering Mr Cuomo as a potential candidate. A Rasmussen Reports poll between 2-5 April found Mr Biden slightly ahead of Mr Cuomo, with 46 per cent preferring the former vice president to 45 per cent preferring the New Yorker

With Mr Cuomo's approval rating nearing 90 per cent for his handling of the coronavirus, the governor was forced to deny multiple time during an interview on CNN that he wanted to run for president.

Defenders of Mr Biden, meanwhile, have said supporters of both Mr Trump and Mr Sanders had seized on the "lovable gaffe machine's" stutters and tried to hold them up as a sign of dementia.

At his daily press conference this week, Donald Trump began using that line of attack in response to a Tweet from Mr Biden that said the president isn't responsible for coronavirus, but "he is responsible for failing to prepare our nation to respond to it".

"He didn't write that," Mr Trump said. "That was done by a Democrat operative. He doesn't write--he doesn't--he's probably not even watching right now and if he is he doesn't understand what he is watching."