Biden on Why He’s Still Beating Trump in the Polls From Home: ‘The More He’s Out There, the More He Hurts Himself’

Former Vice President Joe Biden said that campaigning virtually hasn’t hurt his support, and noted that he holds a hefty lead in the polls partly because of President Donald Trump’s constant media exposure.

On Tuesday, Biden’s virtual campaign included a trio of local news interviews — with stations in North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada — during which he was repeatedly asked about his inability to mount a traditional campaign due to the current pandemic.

During his interview with Las Vegas’ KLAS, 8 News NOW’s Orko Manna asked Biden how the virtual campaigning has been going.

Biden said he’d “mush rather be out, but our governor has a shelter in place order here in the state, I’m obeying that order.”

But he added that “We’ve had 112 million views of events like we’re doing now, roundtables as well, and major programs and interviews with local serious people like you, and so it hasn’t seem to have slowed down the ability to be able to get an awful lot done.”

“Based on the outcome of all the national polling data, we seem to be doing very well,” Biden said. “And as a matter of fact, in a bizarre way, the president, the more he’s out there the more he hurts himself, I think.”

Biden then said “there’s no evidence” that virtual campaigning is negatively impacting his support, citing national polls, as well as “in six states where there are Republican senators from across the board, six of them, and we are winning by an average of eight points, I think it’s eight points in each of those States.”

“I’m not making the case that that means that determine the outcome, but thus far there is no evidence that the president, us having to do it this way has cost us in terms of political support,” Biden added.

He made similar remarks in his other local interviews.

Biden overshot slightly in citing a poll that showed him with a ten-point lead, as the most recent Monmouth survey had him leading Trump by nine, 50 percent to 41 percent, but he underestimated his lead in that Senate battleground poll, which shows him leading by an average of nine points in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Montana and North Carolina.

But there are warning signs in the polling for Biden, as well. Although Trump has been getting crushed over his response to the pandemic, his approval ratings have hovered at or near the high points of his presidency. Trump’s performance in public appearances may well be helping Biden to maintain his lead, but those approval numbers could also indicate a higher floor for Trump than previously known.

Watch the clip above via KLAS.

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