Daily Kos Democratic Straw Poll: January 22

In two years, Democrats will have the White House back.

Welcome to our bi-weekly Daily Kos presidential straw poll! Every edition, the two last-place vote-getters will be swapped out for two new names. With 25+ Democrats interested in running, it’s about the best compromise at the moment. Last edition, the losers were Julián Castro and Kirsten Gillibrand. They may return in future installments if they start to catch fire (I suspect Gillibrand has that potential). 

Also, starting this edition, an email address will be required to participate (unless your email address is already in the Daily Kos cookie. It’s one of a series of measures we’re putting in place—many behind the scenes—to protect the integrity of the straw poll, while also helping build our list, one that does amazing activism work. We’re not worried about campaigns or supporters spamming the straw poll—I like that this thing, unscientific as it is, measures online support intensity. We’re more worried about bots and Russians and malicious actors (like this one). Requiring an email address is not a prophylactic, but it does assist with countermeasures. 

Finally, have fun with this. Rejoice at all the great candidates we already have in the field, and the many more that will soon join. It seems inevitable that, however this thing shakes out early next year, we’re going to be in good shape in November 2020.