After suffering through a miserable few weeks in his third Presidential campaign, former Vice-President Joe Biden desperately needed some good news, and on Wednesday, in South Carolina, he finally received some. Congressman James Clyburn, one of the most prominent black Democrats in the country, endorsed Biden for President, and two new polls indicated that he is heading for a comfortable victory in Saturday’s primary.
The endorsement from Clyburn, a fourteen-term representative who is currently the Majority Whip, had been widely expected. He and Biden have had a long political association, and his wife, Emily, a librarian and political activist who died last year, was a personal friend of the former Vice-President. But nothing could detract from the fulsome and emotional nature of Clyburn’s gesture. Surrounded by other Democratic officials at Trident Technical College, which is in his North Charleston congressional district, the seventy-nine-year-old Clyburn, who has the bearing of distinguished preacher, raised his right hand and said, “I am fearful for the future of this country. I am fearful for my daughters and their future, and their children’s future.”
Clyburn enunciated his words slowly, tapping the dais with his fingers for emphasis. “This country is at an inflection point,” he went on. “It is time to restore this country’s dignity, this country’s respect. That is what is at stake this year, and I can think of no-one better suited, better prepared. I can think of no one with the integrity, no one more committed to the fundamental principles that make this country what it is than my good friend—my late wife’s great friend—Joe Biden.”
Of course, it remains to be seen what impact the endorsement will have. In an age of gaping generational divides and political dealignment, hat tips from party elders—even emotional ones—don’t count for as much as they used to. But with about two-thirds of the voters in Saturday’s primary likely to come from South Carolina’s African-American community, Clyburn’s wholehearted support of Biden can’t be discounted, either. Seeking to make the most of the endorsement, the Biden campaign issued a video in which Clyburn said that South Carolina had launched to the White House Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who both won primaries in the state, and would now launch Biden on the same path.
The other good news for Biden came in the form of a pair of new polls from East Carolina University and Clemson University. The East Carolina survey showed him with a lead of eight points over Bernie Sanders—thirty-one per cent to twenty-three per cent. The Clemson poll showed Biden with an even bigger lead: eighteen points. He was at thirty-five per cent. The billionaire Tom Steyer, who has spent a lot of money on television ads, was in second place, at seventeen per cent. Sanders was in third, at thirteen per cent.
As always, the new survey data should be interpreted with caution. Just a couple of days ago, two other polls were released that showed Sanders rising to within striking distance of Biden in South Carolina. In an NBC News/Marist College poll, the margin between them was just four points, and in a survey from CBS News/YouGov it was five points. When Sanders walked off the stage after Tuesday night’s food fight of a debate in Charleston, he told CNN, “I think we have the momentum to win here in South Carolina, to pull off a real upset.”
That could still happen. But the timing of the polls will provide some encouragement for Biden and his supporters. Whereas the field work for the NBC News/Marist College and CBS News/YouGov surveys were carried out last week, some of the questioning for the new polls was done after the Nevada caucus. The Biden campaign will be hoping that the sight of Sanders recording a blowout victory encouraged some of the former Vice-President’s supporters to come home.
Whatever happens on Saturday, Sanders will remain the front-runner and the favorite to get the nomination. As the race moves onto the fourteen-state Super Tuesday contest, just three days later, Biden will still be vying with Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and Michael Bloomberg for the support of moderate Democrats. The latest polls show Sanders leading big in California, and slightly ahead in North Carolina and Texas. If these poll results are borne out in the actual voting, he will rack up a huge lead in pledged delegates.
The Biden campaign is so financially strained that it has barely advertised in the Super Tuesday states. At this stage, however, Biden will take any victory he can get and hope to emerge as the only realistic alternative to Sanders.
