After getting butchered by the mainstream media for a week straight over accusations of inappropriate touching, conventional wisdom suggests that former Vice President Joe Biden’s election odds should be slipping. However, Biden remains the early favorite in a crowded Democratic field filled with political heavyweights.
From the progressive left’s perspective, Biden is a terrible candidate, but the Democrat from Delaware has a “secret weapon”: former President Barack Obama, who remains enormously popular with Democrat voters. As Obama’s former right-hand man, Biden benefits from Obama’s popularity simply by association, argues CNN analyst Harry Enten.
Ratings don’t lie
According to the latest Gallup poll, Biden enjoys an 80% favorable rating among Democrats, compared to just 9 percent who disapprove of him. Those are impressive numbers, but what is truly astounding is that the expected presidential nominee scored the same favorability ratings in January.
In the intervening weeks, Biden was pummeled by successive news reports that cast him as a #MeToo villain for failing to keep his hands to himself. First, a former Nevada state assemblywoman penned an op-ed describing how Biden touched her inappropriately and kissed her on the back of her head at a campaign rally in 2014.
Just days later, a congressional aide described how Biden awkwardly put his hand around her neck and pulled her toward him to rub noses. “This is the Al Franken thing all over again,” she said.
Apology tour
But Biden is disliked for more than just his inability to respect personal space. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden oversaw the contentious Anita Hill hearings in 1991, and he has been unable to live down accusations that he mistreated Hill by allowing the panel to badger her.
The charges have bothered Biden enough that now, even three decades later, he finds it necessary to apologize for his behavior. “She was taken advantage of. Her reputation was attacked. I wish I could have done something,” Biden said in March.
Then, of course, there is Biden’s remarkably moderate voting record. It’s hard to imagine a constituency that continues a slow but inexorable slide to the left voting for Biden. It’s even harder to pretend that Biden can succeed in a party that has become inherently hostile to white men — especially old white men like Biden.
And yet, the 76-year-old’s saving grace is that he spent 8 years working beside a liberal folk hero. “Democrats like Biden because he was the vice president to the most popular Democrat in the country, Barack Obama,” wrote Enten.
“Biden’s best chance of winning is not to run from his record,” Enten continued. “It’s merely to focus on his most recent record. Biden should point voters to his time as Obama’s number two. It’s far from a guarantee that it will work, though it really could help ameliorate the potential flaws of his past record in the Senate.”
Innocent by association
The left continues to worship Obama. Some 2018 polls indicate that the former president has an incredible 97% favorability rating among Democrats.
In fact, according to Michigan State University Professor Matt Grossmann, Democrat voters are more likely to identify as an “Obama Democrat” than as “liberal Democrat,” “progressive,” or “Democratic Socialist.”
Republicans identify most with conservatism, Democrats identify most with Obama; Democrats split in ideological identificationhttps://t.co/7NKhd2QsTf pic.twitter.com/kLQP0vVZgp
— Matt Grossmann (@MattGrossmann) March 6, 2019
When it comes to Biden’s appeal, he is innocent by association. No matter how hard he tries to sabotage his own election chances, the touchy-feely politician just can’t shake his universal allure.
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