Some Democrat voters are “concerned” that former Vice President Joe Biden is “too white,” according to a Pew research study released this week, but not minority Democrat voters.
The Washington Free Beacon reports that “the only Democratic voters significantly bothered by Joe Biden’s race and gender are white liberals with graduate degrees” and that “nearly half of [those voters] said they were bothered that their party’s nominee was not a minority.”
“A majority of liberal Democrats reported being bothered by Biden’s whiteness, as did 58 percent of Democrats with a postgraduate education. Among Democrats with a high school education or less, 76 percent said they didn’t care about Biden’s race or gender, the highest result among any of the demographics measured,” the WFB said.
Oddly enough, the Democrats least concerned about Biden’s race were Democrats who identified as an ethnic minority. “Nearly 60 percent of respondents said Biden’s age and race do not bother them. Among black voters, 72 percent said they weren’t bothered by Biden’s race and gender, while 70 percent of Hispanic voters said the same.”
Joe Biden is now the presumptive Democratic nominee, though the field wasn’t as diverse as it has been in years past — and he’s also the first white male nominee for Democrats in at least three presidential cycles. Although there were people of color competing for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, by the end of the race, the field was largely homogenous. In addition to Biden, front-runners included former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), both of whom are white, but at least female.
Of those who believe Joe Biden is simply too mainstream to earn the Democratic nomination, though, most weren’t supportive of a nominee of color. Sen. Elizabeth Warren led the field for college-educated white Democrats.
The Pew study does have good news for Biden — he’s locking up Democratic voters nicely, and more quickly than anticipated. Although some Democrats are expressing reservations about their nominee, most are committed to voting for him — even those who might have cast a ballot for Biden’s arch-nemesis, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). That’s likely to Sanders’ credit; thanks to a campaign by former President Barack Obama, Sanders is on board with the Biden campaign and will serve as a policy advisor, even if Biden never takes his suggestions.
There are some concerns, though. Biden seems to be picking up older voters, according to The New York Times, possibly an effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Older individuals are more vulnerable to COVID-19, and seem to be gravitating to a presidential candidate who can provide greater health care coverage and who stresses the importance of both Medicare and social security.
But Biden is losing ground with younger voters who are more deeply affected by coronavirus-related lockdowns, rather than the disease. He’s also losing ground in some battleground states; where he led by seven points or more before, he’s now dropped into the margin of error with President Donald Trump, leaving the Democrat vulnerable in some of the most important 2020 states.
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