A new poll of potential Democrat candidates for president in 2024 has New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo leading the field - and it seems no one is more surprised than Cuomo himself.
The poll, released Thursday by Canadian firm Leger, asked voters for their first choice among Democrats for the election four years away (assuming this year's presumptive nominee Joe Biden is not on the ballot).
Cuomo led the field among Democrat voters with 21 percent support, two points better than this year's vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris. (His margin was even larger when counting the response of all voters, regardless of party.) By demographics, he was the first choice of men, women, voters over 30, every geographic region but the West Coast, and of white voters.
"The poll was shocking to me, frankly," Cuomo said during a news conference Friday, saying all of his support "must be from the briefings and from what New Yorkers did on COVID.
"I applaud New Yorkers and I think it's reflective of the actions that New Yorkers took ... and possibly my rapier wit and stunning sense of humor," Cuomo said. "It was shocking to me."
He steadfastly refused to run for president this year, despite a brief "draft Cuomo" movement during the depths of the coronavirus pandemic. He did not say during Friday's call whether he'd actually consider a 2024 run.
The Leger online poll of 1,041 registered voters was conducted between Aug. 4 and Aug. 7.
