RNC chairman: Joe Biden is more likable than Hillary Clinton

Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton
(Image credit: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus thinks that, should Vice President Joe Biden decide to run for president, he would be a more formidable opponent to Republicans than Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

"I think Joe Biden is someone that a lot of people, whether they like his politics or not, they like him," Priebus told the Today show Wednesday. That's important, Priebus said, because "likability is probably the number one issue on the ballot."

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll out this week showed Clinton's approval rating plummeting to its lowest level since 2008, dropping by eight percentage points from the month before. While Biden was not included in this particular poll, a recent survey by Quinnipiac University revealed that the veep polls "just as well as [Clinton] against the top Republicans."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Moreover, while Clinton had a 40 percent favorability rating in the poll, Biden beat her by a whopping nine percentage points, with 49 percent favorability among all registered voters — a score higher than any other candidate on the list.

Biden is expected to announce whether or not he will seek the Democratic nomination for president by September.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.