With Hillary Clinton getting knocked about by the press over her emails, could there be a new hope for Democrats? A fresh round of polls suggests that it’s someone who’s been under our noses the whole time: Vice President Joe Biden.
Of course, Biden does have a key benefit going for him: He’s not actually in the race right now, and therefore not being put through the media wringer on a daily basis. But whatever the cause, perhaps numbers like these might be enough for this longtime Democratic statesman to jump into the race.
The new Quinnipiac poll released Thursday found that in three key swing states, Clinton is currently on the ropes — and that Biden does as well or better in many of the matchups:
Florida
- Jeb Bush 49 percent, Clinton 38 percent
- Bush 51 percent, Biden 38 percent
- Marco Rubio 51 percent, Clinton 39 percent
- Rubio 48 percent, Biden 42 percent
- Donald Trump 43 percent, Clinton 41 percent
- Biden 45 percent, Trump 42 percent
Ohio
- Clinton 41 percent, Bush 39 percent
- Biden 42 percent, Bush 39 percent
- Rubio 42 percent, Clinton 40 percent
- Biden 42 percent, Rubio 41 percent
- Clinton 43 percent, Trump 38 percent
- Biden 48 percent, Trump 38 percent
Pennsylvania
- Bush 43 percent, Clinton 40 percent
- Bush 43 percent, Biden 42 percent
- Rubio 47 percent, Clinton 40 percent
- Rubio 44 percent, Biden 41 percent
- Clinton 45 percent, Trump 40 percent
- Biden 48 percent, Trump 40 percent
In addition, the CNN poll released Wednesday found that 49 percent of Democrats think Biden should get into the race, in a dead heat with 48 percent of Democratic respondents who said he should stay out.
And among the wider poll of registered voters, a solid 53 percent said Biden should get in, against 45 percent saying he should stay out.
In the Democratic horse race itself, Clinton has 48 percent, Bernie Sanders 27 percent, Biden 13 percent, and then the bare and low single-digits for Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee.
According to CNN’s analysis, Biden’s own supporters would still largely go over to Clinton — which makes sense, as they are both logical candidates for Democratic voters who want a direct successor to the Obama administration. So if Biden’s supporters’ second choices are reallocated, the main numbers have Clinton ahead with 56 percent to Sanders’ 33 percent.
Photo: U.S. vice president Joe Biden delivers remarks at the U.S.-Ukraine Business Forum in Washington on July 13, 2015. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
