On Wednesday afternoon, Biden, who received over 71 million votes, the most in U.S history, was joined by his running mate Kamala Harris at a news conference. He said that he expected to win the presidency, but he did not blatantly declare himself the winner.

“After a long night of counting, it is clear that we are winning enough states to reach 270 votes to reach the presidency,” said Biden. “I will govern as an American president. There will be no red states and blue states when we win. Just the United States of America.”

His statement was by and large in stark contrast to Trump, who falsely proclaimed that he had won the election on Wednesday morning despite millions of uncounted votes and a declared definite win. 

Trump who falsely claimed to win the election took to Twitter to tweet out: 

“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” he followed up minutes later in a tweet that was subsequently taken down by Twitter for promoting falsified information. 

In 2016, President Trump won Michigan by about 10,704 votes. The president’s success with white working-class voters was crucial to his 2016 victory. While he succeeded in counties like Macomb and Monroe, he also flipped working-class areas in mid-Michigan like Saginaw County.

During the 2020 campaign period, Democrats also worked fervently to increase the turnout in cities with predominantly Black voters, including Detroit and Flint. Three days before the election, Biden and former President Obama held drive-in events in both cities, hoping to create enthusiasm among their supporters. 

Before a mostly African-American audience at Flint’s Northwestern High School on Saturday afternoon, Obama referred to his former vice president as “my buddy” and said Biden would unfailingly restore decency and competence to the White House. 

In a 25-minute speech, Obama stressed the importance of voting.

“This Tuesday, everything is on the line,” Obama said. “Our jobs are on the line. Our health care is on the line, and whether or not we get this pandemic under control is on the line.”

In Tuesday’s election, Michigan set a voter turnout record that surpassed the 2008 record set when former president Barack Obama was elected. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, while election workers counted ballots, officials had already tallied over 5.1 million votes in the political race between Biden and Trump. This number surpassed the 5,039,080 benchmark set in 2008.

It is a difficult task to overemphasize Michigan’s importance in the 2020 election. The state — along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — is critical to Biden becoming the United States president.

In 2016, president Trump flipped Michigan and became the first Republican since George H.W. Bush in 1988 to win the state. For nearly 25 years, Michigan has been a reliably blue state regarding choosing a president. During his 2020 presidential campaign, President Trump made a total number of eight trips to the state of Michigan, including a final stop a day before election day.

In his 2020 campaign, Trump tried to repeat history partly by organizing his final campaign to rally in Grand Rapids, just like he did in 2016

“This is a poll,” Trump said to the crowd. “This is not the crowd of somebody who’s going to lose this state.”

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris also spent most of her Tuesday in Detroit, where Biden campaigned with former President Barack Obama on Saturday. During his campaign with Obama on Saturday, Biden reminded voters that the Obama administration had rescued Michigan’s automobile industry with government investment after the 2008 recession hit the nation.

By contrast, this year, unemployment rates were starkly high in Michigan; therefore, the pandemic coupled with the economic crisis were pertinent issues in Michigan, where thousands in the state vehemently protested Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s ordered restrictions to curb the coronavirus.

Trump also openly disagreed with Whitmer’s approach to curbing the pandemic and seemingly shrugged off the threat she faced from a domestic terrorist group’s plot to kidnap her, downplaying its effect.

Following Tuesday’s election, as votes in Michigan continued to be counted on Wednesday, however, President Trump’s reelection campaign filed a lawsuit in Michigan’s Court of Claims, seeking to delay the counting of ballots indicating inadequate access to vote-tallying locations. In addition to seeking to halt counting the votes “until meaningful access has been granted,” the Trump campaign also demanded to review the ballots that were previously opened and counted. The lawsuit came after Trump tweeted several times, spreading misinformation about the overall election process.

How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

While he scored a win in Michigan, Biden also secured a win in Wisconsin, flipping a battleground state that helped President Trump win the election in 2016. 

Even before Biden was officially declared a winner in the state, Trump’s campaign said it would request a recount. Like Michigan, Wisconsin is a crucial swing state, and a recount of votes and a lawsuit in Michigan could further delay election results.

Joe Biden’s narrow win in Michigan was also the outcome of an extremely high voter turnout in Detroit. In 2016, Detroit’s Black voters’ underwhelming performance caused Hillary Clinton’s electoral loss. Biden, however, managed to improve on Clinton’s performance in the significant counties around Detroit. 

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“I feel decently awful about it,” Knight, a 19-year-old NYU student, said. “I have a little bit of comfort knowing that the residential part of the tower he doesn’t own anymore. It is definitely icky. Something that made me wonder if coming back to New York was worth it at all.”

River Knight  is voting for Biden. Photo courtesy of River Knight.

Knight, who lives in an apartment owned by his grandmother, casted his vote for Joe Biden which he mailed to Salt Lake City, Utah, his hometown. 

“I read somewhere that if you sent it after October 20 who knew whether or not it was gonna make it,” said Knight. “I just got confirmation this past Friday that it was counted.”

Utah is historically a red voting state, but Utah Senator Mitt Romney has recently confirmed that he himself had not voted for Trump.

“I think there’s a chance that Utah could go not fully blue but purple or pink,” Knight said. There is a semblance of a chance that Trump will not get the majority of our electors and that’s because Romney didn’t vote for Trump and the Mormons like Romney,” said Knight. 

Knight hailed from a suburb just outside of Salt Lake City Utah, approximately 9400 blocks south from the Mormon Temple. All of Salt Lake’s streets are labelled by their distance from the temple. Whether or not Utah votes semi-blue, Knight believes Biden will win the election.

“I think Joe Biden will win. God, knock on wood though,” said Knight. “Trump is an evil, lying, disgusting human being. Biden has run his political campaign on the side of decency, and will be on the right side of history in a way Trump could never be.”

This is the first election Knight will be voting in along with many others, with predictions of the highest youth voter turnout since 1984, according to the Harvard Gazette. He is a registered independent and so did not vote in the primary elections this year. 

“I’m voting for Biden cause I don’t think he’s evil. I think he’s rational and would be more of a ‘man of the people,’” said Knight. “And everyone my age I know is voting. Not all of them are voting for Biden, but a good amount are.” 

Knight plans to watch the election inside of his apartment in the Trump International. He said he believes civil unrest will come in the weeks after the election, not the night of. Some news sources predict that because of mail-in voting, the election will not be over on election day, and that the results may take several days.

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But Hussain of Bloomingdale, New Jersey will not be deterred by the hate. She said Muslims are just as affected by the issues that plague this country as any other American. 

“We live in this country where the economy affects us, big decisions made by our government  affect us, just like it would affect any other American person or family,” Hussain said.

With the elections looming, Muslim and Arab American voters across the United States are just as caught up in the stress and drama of the 2020 Presidential Election.

Hussain, like most Americans, is worried about COVID-19.

“There is misinformation on the national level that’s definitely making all our communities less safe, especially communities of color,”said  Hussain.

Hussain, is part of the 71% of  the Muslim American community that back Biden according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The poll showed only 18% percent of Muslim voters support Trump.

Despite the support, Hussain holds some reservations about the Democratic Party. 

“If the Republican Party is completely fine with being extreme in the other direction, the Democratic Party should be comfortable being bold in their efforts to improve and progress the United States,” she  said,

Pollsters say back in the 1990s, Muslim voters were split almost evenly in their support for Republicans and Democrats. But that gap began to widen post 9/11, when the Republican Party was perceived as more hostile to Islam.

And Trump’s presidency began with a Muslim ban.

Executive Order 13769 banned travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. 

Trump again went after, the Muslim and Arab community  just a few days ago when he tweeted that his administration has suspended, “the entry of refugees from terror-compromised nations like Syria, Somalia and Yemen.”

My Administration has suspended the entry of refugees from terror-compromised nations such as Syria, Somalia and Yemen. Biden’s plan surges refugees 700% into Minnesota, Michigan & Pennsylvania—burdening schools & hospitals while opening the floodgates to Radical Islamic Terror.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2020

“I know many Muslims in the community don’t agree that it is a Muslim ban and they call it a refugee ban, but we know that the countries that are on the list are Muslim majority countries,” Basma Alawee, a former refugge and first time voter said.

She hopes that Muslims and Arabs see how much they have in common with other targeted communities. 

 “I think it’s important for our Muslim and Arab Americans to understand that we are a part of a bigger community and we need to show up and stand in solidarity with others, including the Black community, so they can be there for us when we need them,” Alawee said.

Even though some Muslim Americans may not be thrilled by the candidates they need to choose between, they are serious about change, said Nihad Awad, the National Executive Director at CAIR.

“American Muslims want to get rid of policies and attitudes that harm them and they believe in the alternative,” Awad said. “The alternative is just to be normal. We live in  abnormal times and they want it to end.” 

In Greenville, South Carolina, Robyn Sadoon, an Irish and French Muslim American voter ,is disturbed by how the United States is viewed by the world under this administration. She said their policies have lost a lot of credibility especially when it comes to Syria, Israel-Palestine, NATO and the refugee crisis.

“I don’t think that any of us would have ever imagined that the president of this nation would be laughed at on the world stage by other world leaders,” Sadoon said. “ Much less be given such a negative and critical welcome as we have seen with massive protests against the arrival of this President in so many of the countries that he visited pre-covid.” 

A Palestinian Muslim American of Newark, New Jersey, Wajeeh Abushawish, took a different turn on the presidential election. He said he will be voting for Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins because his overall point is less money on wars and more money put into American lives. 

“I am a believer in voting for the person whose ideals match yours the most,” Abushawish said. “He is not afraid to support Palestine either, which is taboo for some reason in the United States.” 

Arab Americans share similar concerns.

“Arab Americans have problems with Biden,” Susan Muaddi Darraj, an Arab American novelist from Maryland said. “But our energy right now needs to go in making sure that Trump doesn’t get reelected. My hope is that after the election, we can return to a respect for facts and data. I also hope we find a way to heal the different communities that have been pitted against each other under this administration.”

According to a poll by the Arab American Institute, 59% of Arab voters say they are casting their ballots for Biden compared to 35% voting to reelect Trump.

Biden wasn’t Alana Bannourah’s, a Palestinian Christian American of California, first choice but she said she will be casting her vote for him since the Democratic Party’s values align with hers. 

“I am a registered Democrat and I am definitely voting for Biden, besides the fact that I abhor Trump,” Bannourah said. “I feel like the Democratic Party’s values that match mine are the economy, healthcare, the environment lately and especially  immigration.”

Machhadie Assi putting her ballot into the ballot box in Michigan on October 30, 2020. Photo courtesy of Machhadie Assi

If there is one major issue on the minds of all American voters entering November 3, it is post-election violence. Machhadie Assi, a  Lebanese Muslim American and a Victim Advocate for Michigan’s Attorney General Office, is frightened at the prospect of how Biden and Trump voters will react because people are emotional going into this election.  

“I am actually more concerned about the reaction of people if Biden wins than if Trump wins” Assi said. “Our  country has gone through a lot of hate and it’s in a sensitive stage right now. The result of the election will either escalate the division or not and I worry it will.” 

But Assi is trying to remain  hopeful of what is to come in the next four years.

“I hope we can gain back the respect the world has had for the United States of America under the new administration,” said Assi.

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“My mother had a health complication and my dad who was living in Florida, in Orlando, he got us a ticket for our entire family to leave the island,” said Nava Alsina. “We couldn’t stay in the island if my mom was not able to get the medicine she needed.”

Nava Aslina still remembers the day Trump visited the island and threw rolls of paper towels to hurricane survivors, an action that has snowballed along with the various negative comments Trump has said about the island, which left many Puerto Ricans unhappy with the Trump administration.  

“For us, it was a complete lack of respect to the people,” said Nava Alsina “It’s just something that you don’t do. I wasn’t expecting him to go that low.” 

The Category 5 hurricane tore through the island leaving it without electricity or water for months and an estimated death toll of 1,427.  But Hurricane Maria was just one of the many disasters the island has confronted in the past years. In 2019, the island was hit by governmental corruption and underwent a tumultuous transition in  after people took to the streets to protest against then governor Ricardo Roselló. Throughout the beginning of 2020, earthquakes began shaking different parts of the island, destroying homes and damaging an already fragile power grid.

With the Puerto Rican population on the island shrinking dramatically since the landfall of Maria, Florida has become a key battleground state for the 2020 presidential election. Both candidates have been competing to win over the Latino vote in the state and Puerto Ricans have proven to be a key demographic there, making up 27% of the overall eligible Latino voters in the state.  

Nava Alsina has been working with the Florida Democratic Party to mobilize the Puerto Rican vote in the state. As part of a group called Boricuas con Biden, Nava Alsina has helped make over 60,000 calls to Puerto Rican voters. The group, which is led by volunteers, has also relied on text messaging initiatives, zoom calls and Puerto Rican artists to motivate voters. 

While working on this initiative, Nava Alsina has had the chance to listen to what many Puerto Ricans have to say about Hurricane Maria and  the Trump administration handled the aftermath of the storm on the island. 

Natascha Otero, founder of Boricuas con Biden, said  that Florida is a key state for the Puerto Rican vote because most  have close ties to the island. Some have  family members who still live on the island or they fled to the state  after the hurricane. Otero said  these Puerto Ricans still recall what the island went through the past four years.

As part of the  group’s initiative, Puerto Rican voters speak with fellow Puerto Ricans who are still on the island over the phone. This process has been a key element when campaigning. Especially now that their efforts are limited to social media, texts and phone calls due to Covid-19. 

“As opposed to other groups, we know what Puerto Rico has suffered because of the Trump administration,” said Otero. “We don’t want four more years of that for the island.” 

But there’s still a group that favors president Trump’s reelection. Among them are top officials that form part of Puerto Rico’s local government.  The island’s appointed governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, endorsed Trump during an interview with Telemundo. Nayda Venegas Brown, a conservative senator who’s a member of the New Progressive Party (PNP) on the island, participated in a caravan to support president Trump in Puerto Rico. 

Puerto Ricans participate in a “Puerto Ricans for Trump” rally held in Puerto Rico. Photo provided by Nelson Albino

But the efforts from the island to try and branch out to Puerto Rican voters in the diaspora has been from both sides. For the first time in 50 years, the island’s main newspaper, El Nuevo Día, endorsed a presidential candidate; it was Joe Biden. The editorial piece highlighted Biden’s plans for the island if elected and condemned the way President Trump has behaved towards the island describing the way Puerto Rico has been treated by his administration as, “an overwhelming amount of inattention, disdain and prejudice against our people.” 

But there is not much either of them can do except hope that the message gets through to Puerto Ricans who live on the mainland. Why? Because Puerto Ricans on the island cannot vote in the presidential elections due to the island’s territorial status.  However,  that  has not discouraged Puerto Ricans on the island to stand behind the candidates they support, especially in an election that puts so much at stake.

Nelson Albino, a co-founder of Puerto Ricans for Trump, has been clear in his support for president Trump’s reelection even though he cannot vote for him. Albino was also one of the organizers of the Puerto Ricans for Trump caravan in which Venegas Brown participated.

“I wanted to send a message to the political establishment in the island that there are Republicans in Puerto Rico who no longer believe the lies of the establishment and the media, and also to send a message to the national Republican leadership that there are conservatives in Puerto Rico,” said Albino.  

For Albino, the way the Trump administration managed the aftermath of Hurricane María was mostly influenced by  the island’s history with corruption, an ongoing problem. He said  that many politicians on the island have an axe to grind with president Trump because of the way he “drained the swamp” in the Puerto Rican government. Albino also believes that statehood for Puerto Rico is not an option for the island in the foreseeable future because Puerto Rico is simply not ready to become a state. 

But regardless of the opposition many Puerto Ricans have shown against the Trump administration, Albino is optimistic that president Trump will win the reelection and continue to do the work that he believes has helped the island progress and move forward. 

“I believe he will be elected,” said Albino

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The rally’s attendance was limited to members of the press, a few essential workers and a COVID-19 survivor. 

That Biden is delivering his entire speech in Grand Rapids with a mask on speaks volumes more than any remarks he’s delivering, and he knows it.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 2, 2020

Matt Hoffman, a grocery worker and resident of Imlay City, Michigan stood at the  podium  and urged people to vote Biden for a better America regardless of their political party. He also spoke about the impact of the pandemic on essential workers.

“I live in a small town and our community has been devastated by COVID-19 and the damage it has done to our economy,” he said.“Over these many months, there is not a day that goes by where workers like me are not putting our lives on the line.”

Across Michigan, essential workers have been at the forefront of the pandemic with very few receiving hazard pay. 

Biden’s trip to Grand Rapids, was his second visit to the state in less than a month. Before he commenced his  20 minute speech, he confirmed that he had been tested twice for COVID-19, and received negative results on both occasions. He also sent well wishes to Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, who had recently tested positive for the virus.  

“I hope that all of those fighting the virus, including the first family, rapidly recover,” said Biden.

The rally  comes on the heels of his abrasive debate session with the President. Biden, who tested negative, urged Americans to be patriotic and wear masks. 

“It’s not about being a tough guy,” he said.

Biden said that the President’s diagnosis showed the importance of taking the virus more seriously.

Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus after months of downplaying its danger, aroused confusion in the political world and fears among his aides that his diagnosis would backfire among voters and result in a political disaster, further dampening his chances of winning.

Biden sounding like a President-in-waiting at Grand Rapids. Not since Zorro has anyone drawn so much power from wearing a mask.

— Matthew d’Ancona (@MatthewdAncona) October 2, 2020

Biden currently leads Trump in the Michigan polls by 6.7 points as of today.

The primary goal of his rally was to discuss his “Build Back Better” economic plan, and his target audience was the middle class as well as essential workers who were on the frontlines of the workforce during the pandemic. Acknowledging the turbulence of the current times, Biden urged all Americans to unite.

“This cannot be a partisan moment. It must be an American moment. We have to come together as a nation,” said Biden. “Let’s get the heck up, and remember who in God’s name we are. This is the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity.”

The rally was held in Kent County which is a suburban area  and a former republican stronghold that is turning democratic because of its increasingly growing and diverse population.

During his rally, Biden touched on familiar themes of   taxes, job creation, medicare, social security, child care and the economy. He also referenced the recently released job report, acknowledging that the jobs  created were insufficient.

“I do understand that this is a scary time, an uncertain time. I understand and I see you because I see the world from Scranton Pennsylvania where I grew up. A lot like Grand Rapids,” said Biden. 

Biden addressed essential workers again and promised them an increase in their wages if he won the presidency.

“For essential workers, we are not just going to praise you, we are going to pay you,” said Biden to the audience of frontline workers.

Hamadi Baccar, a democrat  and Michigan resident  said that Biden would make good on his promise by creating jobs through his economic plan.

“Increasing the pay to $15/hr will go a long way for people to lead better lives,” said Baccar. 

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The 90-minute debate, now dubbed by millions of news consumers across the nation as the worst of its kind in American history, is receiving unprecedented press coverage for unprecedented reasons, but the question of whether the outcome of the debate swayed voters across the country remains. 

Residents of Michigan, a major swing state, had a few thoughts on the debate, the candidates and the upcoming election.

Butch Johnson, a mechanic shop owner in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a Trump supporter said that he was not swayed by the outcome of the debate. He maintained that he would still vote for Trump, his candidate of choice.

“I would choose Trump for sure,” said Johnson. “You always go with the current president. They usually know what’s best.”

Although Trump may have a solid Republican following, election results are often unpredictable and even the strongest Trump supporters know that. 

According to a recent poll carried out by the Morning Consult,  voters beleive that Biden performed  better than Trump, by 50% to 34%.

Biden supporters in Michigan took to Twitter to denounce Trump and highlight problematic aspects of his behavior during the debate.

Nothing has changed. We still have over 207,000 people dead of coronavirus. We still have a president that locks children in cages, guilty of tax evasion. One that called our military “losers and Suckers. The same President that told Proud Boys, a hate group to “Stand By”.

— Sherrie (@kitnlov1) October 2, 2020

The debate, which initially began with subtle passive aggressive comments, swiftly devolved into direct insults and personal attacks, with Trump interrupting Biden at least 128 times. This was much more than he interrupted Hilary Clinton in the first  2016 debate. 

“It would be hard not to interrupt someone when they are saying negative things about you,” said Johnson. “If you know the truth, you’ll try to defend yourself.”

According to fact-checkers at news outlets, Trump was caught in numerous peppered lies during the raucous debate.

Despite the chaos of the debate, Michiganders seemed to concede, based on recent post-debate poll reports, carried out by Public Policy Polling, that Biden had a lead over Trump.

In recent politically polarized times, when members of the left and the right don’t seem to agree on anything, just about anyone who rendered their opinion agreed that the debate was an unparalleled disaster.

Mike Hanrahan, a Michigan resident said he was disappointed that there were not more questions or answers directed at policy. 

“Although I understand the moderator’s questions and the need to ask specific questions about our current environment, it would have helped to hear responses directed at where our country is headed over the next four years and how the respective candidates would use their policies to guide our nation,” said Hanrahan.

Chris Wallace of Fox News , the debate moderator, failed at attempts to maintain the decorum of the debate. Trump continued to interrupt both he and Biden multiple times, and then made  snide remarks under his breath.

Biden’s acrid dislike for Trump came to a heightened climax when he made the now famous “Will you shut up, man?” demand of Trump.

“I think it was just disrespectful,” said Johnson. “I don’t think it was appropriate. That’s not how you treat the president of the United States.”

Although some Michiganders were unimpressed with Biden’s remark, he received support from others.

While Trump made last night’s debate about himself, @JoeBiden looked directly in the camera and spoke to the American people.

It’s made a difference with Michigan voters like Katey Morse, who regrets voting for Trump in 2016. https://t.co/hrc82dgIgr

— Michigan Democrats (@MichiganDems) September 30, 2020

Biden is set to visit Grand Rapids, Michigan on October 2. His strategy, which is to win over Republican heavy areas for the election, could significantly influence the outcome of his voter results.

The post Michigan voters debate the debate appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s history of nuzzling, long hugs, forehead kisses, and lingering shoulder touches has some younger Democratic voters, especially women, turned off.

“I don’t think anyone in our generation is pumped up about a Joe Biden prospect,” said Sarah Zimmerman, 25. “And I kind of think that our generation is going to be pushing this entire election, so that’s kind of what matters.”

On March 29th, former Nevada politician Lucy Flores wrote a post for The Cut outlining an uncomfortable encounter she had with then Vice President Joe Biden in 2014. In the article she describes him putting his hands on her shoulders, leaning in and breathing deeply into her hair. Since then, more photos and experiences from other women have come to the forefront of the news.

For these millennials, Biden’s affectionate ways sparks a larger conversation about boundaries and sexual harassment.

“I’m actually really glad that people are starting to talk about it, because pretty much, last year, or awhile ago, I saw a compilation of how he always did weird stuff like that, but no one really talked about it,” said Monmouth University student Nick Coscarelli.

Flores was clear in her initial post that she did not feel assaulted, but the intrusion on her personal space had felt professionally disrespectful and inappropriate.

“She had not read it in a sexual way, but it still was very clearly ‘gendered creepiness,’ that violated her personal boundaries,” said Meredith Bradfield, a graduate student at Simmons University.

While Flores and other women have been clear, the public reaction and dialogue surrounding the initial post followed a familiar paradigm.

“I don’t like the way that it’s formulated,” said Zimmerman. “Because of #MeToo and because of the pattern we’ve created, we’ve kind of set it up so that women have to come out with ‘accusations’ and then other women have to follow. But it’s just kind of strange in this case because we all know that Joe Biden does that, we can literally see hundreds of videos of him doing exactly what she says.”

Flores’ experience triggered an onslaught of harsh criticism of the former Vice President, as people dug into videos and images of his over 40 years of public life. But, a more nuanced conversation about personal limits has grown from the knee-jerk reaction that initially concerned publicist Samantha Simon.

“A part of me, because I work in entertainment, a part of me was so nervous that this would go the route of Aziz Ansari,” Simon said. “Where he did something really inappropriate, but in the grand scheme of things, I don’t know if it was as inappropriate as what other people have done, for example Harvey Weinstein, and he just got ridiculed in a way that I think was kind of unfair.”

Biden, the front runner in the Democratic Primary, despite not having he is running president, responded with a written statement last Sunday and followed up with a video released on Twitter.

Social norms are changing. I understand that, and I’ve heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future. That’s my responsibility and I will meet it. pic.twitter.com/Ya2mf5ODts

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 3, 2019

Coscarelli and others, including #MeToo founder Taran Burke, said Biden misunderstood the criticism and is squandering an opportunity to listen and learn.

“I think he is very out of touch with where we are moving and he’s also just very insensitive to what he thinks is the problem,” Coscarelli said. “I guess he’s taking it as, I guess, all of a sudden people have changed what is okay and what is not. But that’s not the case. We have always known where the boundaries should be drawn, but people have always overstepped them and there has been no consequence to it.”

At the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers conference last Friday, Biden joked about the controversy. Multiple times during the event he flippantly remarked that he had “permission” to touch those he was hugging. Despite also apologizing to the assembled crowd, even some older Democrats, were underwhelmed by his handling of the situation.

“I think that he should have owned up to it and apologized right away,” said D’Anne Avotins, who is a parent of a young millennial. “He was silent for too long and then he made that joke on stage the other day, which I don’t think was considerate to the people who came forward.”

Coscarelli doesn’t feel Biden understands that his actions were wrong.

Many feel that this is another example of Biden being dismissive of a woman’s experience.

“It’s also all hanging under a lot of other things like the Anita Hill hearings, that he just really needs to answer for,” said Zimmerman. “It’s just like one of many things.”

“I am personally very nervous about the fact that he’s been leading in the polls, in part because of something I think people haven’t really been talking about enough,” said Bradfield. “The fact that during the Anita Hill trial, with the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, I seem to remember Biden had not been supportive of Anita Hill at that time. Just kind of thinking about that, in conversation with the lack of respect around boundaries– it might not be at a Kavanaugh level, but it’s still icky.”

With so many questions to answer, without having even announced an exploratory committee, some are looking to other options in the democratic primary.

“There are so many other people on the democratic ticket that come from diverse backgrounds– that are women and that are people of color– and I am just having a hard time being excited about another old white guy on the ticket,” Bradfield said.

While Biden’s conduct has been deemed by many to be distasteful and enthusiasm is not on his side, it doesn’t necessarily mean he cannot run for president. Avotins thinks he could easily backtrack and apologize in a more sensitive way.

If Biden does decide to run for president, he would be squaring up against Trump, who has a long history of sexual harassment allegations.

“You know what’s weird is that we have a president now who obviously said some incredibly inappropriate things right before he got elected, so in my mind maybe it’s not as big of a deal,” Simon said. “That being said, he’s catering to an audience that values things differently. So it sort of seems like it is going to be a way bigger road block than it ever would have been for Trump.”

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