Door 'Wide Open' For A Stacey Abrams' White House Run

ATLANTA -- In the aftermath of her widely praised State of the Union rebuttal, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams has more support than many of her party's presidential candidates, according to a new Democratic poll. Bold Blue Campaigns, a Washington, D.C. polling firm, found former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris clocking in at 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Rounding out the top five were U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (9 percent), U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (7 percent), and Abrams (5 percent), who was included in the poll after her national response to President Trump’s State of the Union address on behalf of the Democratic Party. A total of 58 percent of the respondents watched Abrams' speech. The only other candidates in the field to poll above 1 percent were U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand at 3 percent each, and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sherrod Brown at 1 percent each. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker did not score above 1%.

Harris has announced her White House run, while Biden has not. When asked to state which declared or potential Democrat candidate they would support if the 2020 primary in their state was held today, 48 percent were undecided.

"The door is wide open for Abrams," said Michael McGraw, Bold Blue Campaigns' co-founder, chief political strategist and VP of operations. "It's a wide open race, and no one is polling above the 10 or 15 percent margin. It doesn't cost her anything to float the possibility of a White House run," noting that Abrams had "watch parties" across the United States, including in the all-important caucus state of Iowa which, for the first time in history, is launching a "virtual caucus." The move will allow any Iowa Democrat to caucus virtually at specific times for six days leading up to the caucuses on Feb. 3, 2020, instead of only in person on the traditional Monday night before.

"There's no reason for her not to throw her hat in the ring," McGraw said. "Rank and file Democrats are being very careful about whom they choose this time out."

Abrams has made no secret of her desire to run for political office again, whether it be against U.S. Sen. David Perdue in 2020 or a 2022 gubernatorial campaign against Brian Kemp, who defeated her last fall in the nation's most watched governor's race. Abrams was seeking to become the nation's first African-American female governor. After becoming the nation's first African-American female candidate to earn her party's nomination for a major statewide office, Abrams made history again as the first black woman to deliver her party's rebuttal.

Abrams floated the possibility of a White House run in an interview with Cosmopolitan Magazine, in which she said her goals included a possible presidential campaign in 2028.

Read more: 'God Is A Black Woman' | Abrams Earns High Marks For Rebuttal

And: National GOP Attacks Stacey Abrams Before SOTU Rebuttal

The poll collected responses from 500 likely Democratic primary voters in 46 states, The poll was independently funded and was weighted to match the expected turnout demographics and geography for the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary. The poll was in the field from February 9-11, 2019 and was conducted via live interview calls to a representative landline/cell phone mix in English and Spanish to randomly selected likely voters. Its margin of error was +/- 4.5 percent.

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ATLANTA, GA - NOVEMBER 06: Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams addresses supporters at an election watch party on November 6, 2018 in Atlanta. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)