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It seems unlikely former Secretary of State Hillary Clintonwho lost to President Donald Trump in the 2016 electionwould choose to run again.

But if Clinton gives it another go, she currently registers more support among potential 2020 Democratic candidates than Texas Representative Beto O'Rourke, a lawmaker who has surged in popularity despite losing a 2018 Senate race to Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released to The HillMonday surveyed Democratic and independent voters on potential 2020 candidates. When Clinton was included in the field, former Vice President Joe Biden, considered by many to be a favorite to earn the nomination, was the most popular choice at 25 percent. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was second at 15 percent, while Clinton garnered 13 percent. O'Rourke, meanwhile, had 9 percent supportnot bad for someone who just recently sprung on the national scene.

The poll from Harvard CAPS/Harris released to The Hill surveyed 1,407 registered voters from November27 to November 28.

It's worth noting that this far removed from the 2020 election, these sorts of polls are very preliminary and, in many ways, registerlittle more than name recognition.

Hillary Clinton speaks at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on May 10, 2018, in Melbourne, Australia. A recent survey showed Clinton had decent support for a 2020 presidential run. Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

There have been hints that Clinton would consider running againdespite the devastation of 2016, when it was widely expected she would roll over Trump.

"Its curious why Hillary Clintons name isnt in the mixeither conversationally or in formal pollingas a 2020 candidate," longtime Clinton-aide Philippe Reines told Politico in October. "Shes younger than Donald Trump by a year. She's younger than Joe Biden by four years. Is it that shes run before? This would be Bernie Sanders's second time, and Bidens third time. Is it lack of support? She had 65 million people vote for her."

It would be curious to see Clinton chase down a rematch with Trump, who has battled a historic lack of popularity and apresidencychock full of controversy.

Plenty on the Democratic side, however,have floated O'Rourkeas an exciting new option. He roused up a lot of enthusiasm and energy to make the race against Cruz close in a deeply red state. Former President Barack Obamawho surged onto the scene himself in 2008has even said he sees some of himself in O'Rourke, a comparison a number of others have made.

"The whole conversation around Beto has been eerily familiar to me, because these are the exact arguments people made to me when I told them I was considering working for Barack Obama 10 years ago," Dan Pfeiffer, Obamas former communications director,wrote late last month.

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A former adviser to Bill Clinton suggested Hillary Clinton may embark on another bid for the White House ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

The Democratic primary will resolve itself into a series of ethnic and affinity-group contests," Dick Morris said during an interview that aired Sunday on John Catsimatidis' "Cats Roundtable" radio show after being asked for his predictions on the potential 2020 Democratic field of candidates.

[More: Top Hillary Clinton aide: she may run in 2020]

"In the past, the groupings that lead up to the nomination have been largely geographic: The West, the farm states, the South, the rural states. Then it became ideological: the Left against the center against the Right. Now I think its going to be largely ethnic," Morris said. "Youre going to have a female primary, in effect, which is going to be Elizabeth Warren against Kamala Harris and, possibly, with Hillary Clinton. Youre going to have a left-wing primary, which will be Bernie Sanders maybe against Beto ORourke. Youre going to have a black primary, which is going to be Cory Booker against Eric Holder against Deval Patrick against Kamala Harris. And then youll have an establishment primary of Biden against Hillary."

Morris also issued a warning to the GOP following the 2018 midterm elections in which it struggled to gain the support of college-educated, white young women.

Morris, a Republican pollster and political strategist, helped steer Bill Clinton to victory in his 1978 Arkansas gubernatorial and 1996 presidential re-election races by encouraging Clinton to pursue moderate, "third way" politics.

Morris was famously dropped by Clinton as his campaign manager during the 1996 Democratic National Convention after it was revealed he had been involved with a prostitute, who he let listen to calls he had with the then-president. Morris, who has since forged a career as a conservative, anti-Clinton commentator, also insisted in 2012 that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would beat former President Barack Obama in a landslide.

[Opinion: 9 reasons Hillary Clinton would lose the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination]

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Nov. 23, 2018 / 11:25 PM GMT

By Dareh Gregorian

Hillary Clinton on Friday attempted to clarify her comments on European migration hailed by some on the far right, saying that immigration reform, "not open borders," is needed "on both sides of the Atlantic."

I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee told the Guardian newspaper in an interview published Thursday.

Far right parties have used the issue in Europe to score several election victories.

I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support because if we dont deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic, Clinton continued.

While Clinton went on to criticize those who prey upon fear of immigrants, her comments earned her praise from some of her foes in Europe, which has been grappling with a massive influx of refugees from the Middle East. Between 2015 and 2016, more than one million migrants and refugees came to the European Union.

Maybe Hillary has understood the lesson, Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, told The New York Times. If you dont control migration it will affect mostly poor people, people living on the outskirts, working classes."

In a series of tweets Friday afternoon, Clinton said, "In a recent interview, I talked about how Europe must reject right-wing nationalism and authoritarianism, including by addressing migration with courage and compassion."

The "EU needs a more comprehensive policy that builds societies that are both secure and welcoming," she continued.

"On both sides of the Atlantic, we need reform. Not open borders, but immigration laws enforced with fairness and respect for human rights. We cant let fear or bias force us to give up the values that have made our democracies both great and good," she wrote.

"Can't just keep doing the same things."

In the Guardian interview, Clinton took a number of shots at how President Donald Trump has handled the issue in the United States.

The use of immigrants as a political device and as a symbol of government gone wrong, of attacks on ones heritage, ones identity, ones national unity has been very much exploited by the current administration here," she said.

There are solutions to migration that do not require clamping down on the press, on your political opponents and trying to suborn the judiciary, or seeking financial and political help from Russia to support your political parties and movements.

Dareh Gregorian

Dareh Gregorian writes for NBC News.

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European leaders need to get an handle on immigration in order to stem the rise of xenophobic populism, Hillary Clinton warned in an interview.

Europe has done its part by accepting migrants from around the world, the former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate told the Guardian. But she also contended that by opening the door to those seeking refuge, the continent had welcomed political upheaval. Fears over immigration fanned the flames of identity-based political backlashes, she said, while suggesting it underpinned everything from the United Kingdoms vote to leave the European Union to the election of President Donald Trump.

I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame of populism, she said.

While she expressed admiration for the very generous and compassionate approaches toward immigration taken by leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Clinton advised Europe to send a very clear message we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support.'

The European Union has sustained deep political divides over immigration. While the bloc absorbed over 1 million migrants and refugees in 2015 alone, the influx has notably declined since 186,768 total migrants entered the E.U. in 2017, mostly through Italy and Greece, according to the International Organization for Migration. Despite the drop in arrivals, stridently anti-immigration politics have gained ground in countries like Austria, Italy, and Hungary. The E.U. announced plans in September for a 10,000-strong border guard force to check undocumented migration by 2020.

Read more: Why Italys Matteo Salvini Is the Most Feared Man in Europe

Clintons comments were met with dismay from immigration experts and advocates. As the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, Clinton had promised to embrace immigrants, not denigrate them, a strong contrast to Donald Trumps calls to deport bad hombres and enact a complete shutdown on Muslim immigration to the U.S.

If shes simply saying you need to cut down on refugees coming to Europe to ask for asylum because they have a well-founded fear of persecution, just to appease some right-wing political leaders, its just not the right thing to do, said Eskinder Negash, president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, according to the New York Times.

Write to Eli Meixler at eli.meixler@time.com.

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Ruth Marcus

Overseeing Washington Post signed opinion content and writing on domestic politics and policy

Deputy editorial page editor

Between the man who is president and the woman who ran against him, there is, for me, no contest; Hillary Clinton would have been a far better president than Donald Trump. But both Trump and Clinton, in their own trademark ways, stepped in it again this week when it comes to women.

Trumps comments describing Stormy Daniels as Horseface are the more offensive if for no other reason than that he is the president, and presidential words carry extra weight. Yet Clintons comments insisting that her husbands affair with Monica Lewinsky did not constitute an abuse of power because Lewinsky, then 22, was an adult are the more painful because she could have, should have, done better.

Trump played to piggish type with his comment about Daniels, the adult-film actress who was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump. This was not a spur-of-the-moment utterance, it was a tweet about a judges ruling in Trumps favor in a defamation suit filed by Daniels: Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer, Trump wrote.

Horseface now joins the panoply of Trumps greatest sexist hits: Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? (Carly Fiorina). Face of a pig (Gail Collins). Fat, ugly face (Rosie ODonnell). Blood coming out of her wherever (Megyn Kelly). That this is not anywhere near the complete list tells you everything you need to know about Trumps unrelenting offensiveness.

[Carly Fiorina: Trump has disparaged womens looks including mine. But we have bigger problems.]

This far into the administration, it is folly to expect some version of presidential Trump to emerge. Indeed, just two days before Horseface, there was Trump on 60 Minutes, behaving in a way that is more subtle but also more chilling. At one point in the interview, Leslie Stahl recounts Christine Blasey Fords searing testimony about the indelible laughter of Brett M. Kavanaugh and his friend. Trump shrugs it off, literally. His shoulders rise. He tilts his head in one direction, then another. Okay fine, he says. Whatever.

I watched you mimic her and thousands of people were laughing at her, Stahl told Trump. She invited regret; the president responded with unadulterated callousness. The way now-Justice Kavanaugh was treated has become a big factor in the midterms. Have you seen whats gone on with the polls? And, the ultimate in Trumpian instrumentalism: It doesnt matter. We won.

Once we scoffed at Bill Clinton for being the feel-your-pain president. Now we have a president who is only capable of feeling the pain of those who are similarly aggrieved.

Speaking of Bill Clinton, there was his wife on CBSs Sunday Morning, being asked about workplace conduct in the clarifying light of the #MeToo movement. In retrospect, do you think Bill shouldve resigned in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal? asked correspondent Tony Dokoupil.

Clinton, without hesitation: Absolutely not.

Dokoupil: It wasnt an abuse of power?

Clinton: No, no.

Dokoupil: There are people who look at the incidents of the 90s and they say, A president of the United States cannot have a consensual relationship with an intern, the power imbalance is too great.

Clinton, interjecting mid-sentence: Who was an adult. But let me ask you this: Wheres the investigation of the current incumbent against whom numerous allegations have been made and which he dismisses, denies and ridicules?

Who was an adult . How can she say that, as if that is relevant in any way? Lewinskys technical adulthood is no defense for Bill Clintons behavior in the workplace, as her superior (not to mention president), as a man old enough to be her father. And whatever the reasons for Hillary Clintons instinctive defense of her husbands behavior then, her summary dismissal of it now diminishes her claim to feminism.

Would it not be possible for her to choke out something like: Weve all had some time to think about this and, yes, this was unacceptable workplace behavior. I dont think a president who was elected by the country should have resigned over it, but I also think this conduct was seriously wrong.

But this is not, it never has been, in Hillary Clintons emotional repertoire. She does not cede a millimeter; like Trump, she is allergic to apology. Like Trump, she is prone to whataboutism. If what Bill Clinton did was wrong, why does it matter if what Trump has done is wronger, if indeed it was? Whataboutism is an argument for losers, whichever side deploys it.

And so we are left with this depressing juxtaposition: a president who never hesitates to stoop in demeaning women. And a shouldve-been-president who is a champion for women, except those mistreated by her husband. If Trump never fails to infuriate, Clinton consistently disappoints.

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