Joe Biden declared on Monday that the majority of Americans who say they are better off today than they were four years ago “probably shouldn’t vote for me.”
The moment: During an interview with the Democratic presidential nominee in Cincinnati, Ohio, WKRC-TV’s Kyle Inskeep cited a recent Gallup poll that found 56% of registered voters say they are better off now than they were four years ago.
- Inskeep, noting Biden was vice president four years ago, asked: “So why should people who feel they are better off today, under the Trump administration, vote for you?”
“Well, if they think that, they probably shouldn’t,” Biden replied.
- “They think 54% of the Americans are better off economically today than they were under our administration?” he said, getting the number slightly wrong. “Well, their memory is not very good, quite frankly.”
- “And in addition to that, we have a president who doesn’t share the values of most Americans. He’s not very honest with people. He is flouting the conventions relative to public safety in terms even now not wearing a mask,” Biden added, referring to President Donald Trump’s coronavirus messaging.
Don’t get out the vote: Biden, a famously gaffe-prone candidate, has repeatedly told voters not to vote for him, both in 2020 and in previous races.
- The most recent prior instance came in a May MSNBC interview, when Biden said voters who believe Tara Reade’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 1993 “probably shouldn’t vote for me.”
- Biden — who had previously pushed a “believe all women”-like standard for sexual misconduct claims — added, “I wouldn’t vote for me if I believed Tara Reade.”
