Joe Biden Acknowledges He Needs To ‘Do Really Well’ In South Carolina

Despite setbacks, former Vice President Joe Biden maintained his lead in nationwide opinion polling for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries for nearly a year. That changed once he collapsed in Iowa, where he finished fourth, and New Hampshire, where he came in fifth.

Nevada does not look good for Biden either. According to the latest polling, published in The Vegas Review-Journal, the former front-runner is poised to finish second, behind Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who holds a seven-point advantage. Biden is now acknowledging that a good performance in South Carolina is necessary for his campaign to gain momentum, according to The Hill.

Speaking with anchor Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press, Biden conceded that he needs to do well in South Carolina. “Well, I think I have to do really well in it,” he told Todd, but the host pressed the former vice president on whether “doing well” means winning the most delegates, or doing just well enough for his campaign to survive.

Biden responded that on March 4, “we end up going into all the states, which the polling data is now showing me doing incredibly well, whether it’s North Carolina or Georgia or Texas or any of these other places.”

Biden then pointed to former President Bill Clinton’s insurgent 1992 campaign, noting that Clinton lost the first dozen primaries before winning one, but still ended up clinching the nomination.

“But we’re just getting to the meat of getting to the number of delegates you need to be able to win this election. And I’m confident we’re going to be in good shape,” Biden said, concluding that his goal is to be the presumptive frontrunner by the end of March.

It remains to be seen whether Biden’s South Carolina firewall will hold. There are signs of trouble, according to reports, which suggest that Sanders and billionaire Tom Steyer have been quietly winning over local officials and activists, with Biden’s campaign taking a hands-off approach and relying on the former vice president’s perceived electability to win out in the end.

With devastating losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, the electability argument may not be as convincing as it seems, polling suggests. According to the latest East Carolina University poll, Biden’s lead in the Palmetto State has reduced nine points. He is now polling at 28 percent, with Sanders behind at 20 percent. Steyer is in third place with 14 percent support.

Donors bankrolling Biden’s campaign have also suggested that winning South Carolina is a must. “Everybody’s sticking with Joe until they see what happens there,” venture capitalist and Democratic mega-donor, Alan Patricof, said in a recent interview.