News

We Asked Biden Supporters What Makes Him So Electable

Why do Iowa Democrats love Joe Biden so much?

Want the best from VICE News in your inbox? Sign up here.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Joe Biden arrived in Iowa for his first official campaign swing Tuesday. It was a long time coming for Iowa Democrats, who have consistently put him at the top of the early polls.

Democrats here feel like they know Biden — after all, he's already run for president twice and served eight years as vice president. "I've just been waiting for Joe," Colleen Kersch, a librarian from Dubuque, told VICE News.

Advertisement

Beyond familiarity, "electability" is the magic word that fuels a lot of this support. Biden, Iowans say, is best positioned to defeat President Trump. He's the safest bet.

Democrats in Iowa are still feeling PTSD from the 2016 election. They thought they would win. They were sure they were going to. But then Trump pulled off an unlikely upset, leaving some to question if anyone other than an older white guy with working-class white cred can take Democrats back to the White House.

VICE News talked to voters at Biden's first Iowa campaign stops about why some of them are turning away from the new faces in the Democratic Party's most diverse field ever, and toward a guy America has known for a long, long time.

"I thought Hillary could do it," Kersch told VICE News. "And I don't want someone or anybody to wake up the day after the election and go, 'My God, I lost to him again'."

This segment originally aired May 1, 2019, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.