Biden’s Resilience Has Been Theme of 2020 Campaign

Dan Balz: “For most of the year, former vice president Joe Biden has often been described in negative terms. It has been said he is not as sharp as he should be or once was; that he is well liked but can’t excite the base of the new Democratic Party; that his agenda is little more than ‘return to normalcy’ and that his fundraising problems belie bigger weaknesses.”

“All of that is well and good, but he nears the end of 2019 also as a candidate who has absorbed more criticism than just about everyone else in the Democratic field combined, and he has survived the attacks reasonably well. He remains atop the national polls, his support among African Americans has proved durable through the year, and while his numbers have slipped in Iowa and New Hampshire, he is nonetheless in the battle in those two early-voting states.”