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Biden Still Leads a Crowded Field of Democrats Heading into Round Two of
Presidential Debates

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - A crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates will
   square off in a second round of debates Tuesday and Wednesday nights in
   the U.S., with 20 contenders looking for a breakout moment to make the
   case that they are the party's best of hope of defeating President
   Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

   The two debates with 10 candidates each are occurring six months ahead
   of the Democratic party's first presidential nominating contests early
   next year. But the debates on a theater stage in Detroit, Michigan, the
   heart of the country's auto industry, and nationally televised by CNN
   could prove pivotal in both winnowing the field, forcing the weakest
   challengers out of the race before the next debate in mid-September,
   and in solidifying the list of front-runners.

   Just as before the first round of debates a month ago, national polls
   show former Vice President Joe Biden as the leading choice among
   Democratic voters. Some party stalwarts say he is the more moderate,
   center-left, politically safe choice to take on the unpredictable
   Trump, whose populist base of conservative voters remains strong. A new
   Quinnipiac University national [1]pollshows Biden leading the pack with
   34% of Democrats and independents leaning Democratic, followed by
   Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts with 15%, Kamala Harris of
   California with 12% and Bernie Sanders of Vermont with 11%.

   But there are questions about Biden's standing, whether at 76 he is too
   old to lead the country, even though Trump is 73, and whether
   Democratic voters want a candidate with more progressive views than
   Biden on health care, prevention of crime, migrant immigration at the
   U.S.-Mexican border and other issues. Some analysts think Biden's top
   standing in national polls is at least partly a reflection of name
   recognition, from his four decades on the U.S. national scene as a
   senator, two unsuccessful runs for the presidency and two terms as vice
   president under former President Barack Obama.

   Biden looked like anything but the front-runner in the first debate, a
   rusty presence, faltering and caught by surprise questioning from
   Harris. She attacked his opposition three decades ago to forced busing
   of school children to racially desegregate public schools. Harris said
   that she, as a black woman and the daughter of an Indian mother and
   Jamaican father, benefited from such a busing program to attend a
   better school growing up in California.

   Biden struggled to defend himself, even at one point abruptly cutting
   himself off in responding to her, saying, "My time is up."

   Biden, who on Wednesday again will be on the debate stage with Harris,
   is promising a more robust performance, saying, "I'm not going to be as
   polite this time."

   On the same stage, Biden is also likely to face a challenge from Sen.
   Cory Booker, an African-American former mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

References

   1. https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=3635

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