After Vice President Kamala Harris' brutal defeat in the 2024 presidential election, some people suggested perhaps Democrats should have put up another candidate against President-elect Donald Trump, but new polling shows the party may have been doomed from the get-go.
YouGov conducted a poll after the election to see how voters were feeling. It found 46 percent voted for Harris while 48 percent voted for Trump in line with the results.
But the polling also asked Harris voters whether there was another candidate who they would have rather voted for in a race against the Republican nominee and that's where other potential candidates came up short.
President Biden, who originally was the nominee but dropped out of the race in July amid fallout over his disastrous debate against Trump in late June, polled at 41 percent against the president-elect.
Other potential candidates including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro also trailed Trump in the end.
Whitmer polled at 38 percent and Shapiro at 37 percent, though both are lesser known currently among voters.
Democrats are just beginning to regroup as they start the long journey examining what exactly went so wrong.
Trump was able to lock in not just the Electoral College votes with his victory but swept all seven battleground states.
He also clinched the popular vote by a slim majority for the first time as even blue strongholds saw shifts further red across the country.
Democrats' post-election autopsy will need to include not only who their candidate was but also their policy platform and how messaging was delivered to the American people.
Some state Democratic leaders are already gearing up to fight back against Trump and congressional Republicans' conservative policy agenda as the president-elect prepares to retake office in January.
The party will take formal steps to elect new party leadership to head the Democratic National Committee on February 1.
But when it came to the November election, there was little Democrats could do.
The poll found Harris did better against Trump than any of the other hypothetical Democrat as the nominee across race, gender and age groups.
Since the election, Trump's favorability rating has increased, a new Emerson College poll found.
He saw a six-point increase with 54 percent up from 48 percent. But his favorability varies with gender, race and age.
Men favor him 61 percent while his favorability among women is just 48 percent.
But Trump is term-limited, meaning speculation has already begun over 2028 for both major political parties.
A lot will happen over the next four years, but the Emerson College poll found Harris is the early favorite when it comes to potential Democratic presidential candidates at 37 percent among Democratic primary voters.
Other options trail well behind her with California Governor Gavin Newsom at just 7 percent, Pete Buttigieg at 4 percent, and Whitmer and Shapiro each at 3 percent.
A clear indicator that it will be open season heading into the next presidential election is just how many Democratic voters are undecided at this stage about 2028 at 35 percent.
When it comes to Republican primary, even more GOP voters are undecided about 2028 without Trump in the picture with 51 percent.
Vice President-elect JD Vance comes in second with 30 percent and is by far in the lead among potential candidates at this early stage.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who ran in the 2024 GOP primary against Trump has just 5 percent while fellow 2024 candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has 3 percent.
Nikki Haley polls at just 2 percent, the same number as Robert Kennedy Jr., who up until recently was a Democrat.