Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Sunday pointed to spending from 2020 rival Tom Steyer as a potential reason for why his once-overwhelming lead in South Carolina among black voters has dwindled in recent polling.
“What’s happening is you have Steyer spending tens of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars out campaigning there,” Mr. Biden said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“I think a lot’s happening in terms of the amount of money being spent by the billionaires to try to cut into the African-American vote. I think that has a lot to do with it,” he said. “I assume that’s part of the reason why those numbers are down, but I don’t know.”
Mr. Biden was at 28% support among likely South Carolina Democratic primary voters in a CBS/YouGov poll released on Sunday, ahead of Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont at 23% and Mr. Steyer, a billionaire environmental activist, at 18%.
But in the same poll, Mr. Biden’s support among black primary voters dropped about 20 points compared to November.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn’t on the ballot in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, but the billionaire media mogul also been picking up support from black voters in recent polls as he carpet-bombs the TV airwaves with millions of dollars’ worth of ads.
Nevertheless, Mr. Biden predicted that he will do “well” in South Carolina.
“And I think we’re going to go on to Super Tuesday and do very well,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.