NASHUA, N.H. — Joe Biden’s lead in early Democratic presidential primary polls is in part due to name recognition, a point underscored by several attendees at his New Hampshire events this week who struggled to name even some of the other nearly two-dozen candidates in the race.
A Monmouth University poll of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters released in the days before the former vice president’s first trip to New Hampshire found that he holds 36% support in the crowded field. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who won New Hampshire primary in 2016, was in second place at 18%.
Independent pollster John Zogby said that it is hard to determine exactly how much of Biden’s lead is due to how well known he is, but “to be sure, Biden gets a huge head start from name recognition and that is how it works this early.”
Unlike attendees that the Washington Examiner spoke with at campaign stops for former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., many of those at Biden’s events found it difficult to name other candidates in the race.
Barbara Desjardins, 73 and a retired nurse who saw Biden in Hampton on Monday, said that she has “no idea” whom she would vote for besides Biden and that they are all “candidates that no one’s heard about.”
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“Honestly, I can’t name very many of them,” said Michael Tereshoo, a 69-year-old retired Nashua resident who saw Biden in his city on Tuesday. “Pete whatever-his-last-name-is,” he offered, referring to South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg as another candidate that he is interested in.
While Biden currently holds a plurality of support in New Hampshire, it is still early in the race and voters have time to become more familiar with other candidates.
“It is a marathon,” Peter Hart, a Democratic pollster, told the Washington Examiner. “The single most important event that will happen to shape this election is the Iowa caucus,” which is a little more than a week before the Feb. 11 New Hampshire primary.
Zogby added that being well-known helps voters conceptualize candidates. Several attendees echoed this point, referencing Biden’s nearly 50 years in the public office since joining the New Castle, Del., city council in 1970 and his relationships with global leaders.
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Retired information technology worker Rich Cole of Rye, N.H., 66, said that while he is “still deciding,” Biden is “probably the most qualified” out of all the candidates. Cole attended Biden’s event in Hampton on Monday.
Biden’s experience and name recognition, however, is a “two-edged sword,” as Zogby put it. The former vice president has a record and is vulnerable to attacks from opponents, and he could be seen as out-of-touch with everyday people, having not been one for so long.
“When it comes to anything with foreign affairs and our place in the world, I think he has the stature to really represent the American people well,” public high school teacher Adam Edgar, 44, said in Hampton on Monday. Edgar also “appreciates a lot of Elizabeth Warren’s ideas” and will consider other candidates but said he would be “thrilled” if Biden is the nominee.
Not everyone at Biden’s events was thrilled about his candidacy. Some New Hampshire voters simply try to attend as many candidate events as possible as presidential hopefuls flood the first-in-the-nation primary state.
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“This is the third time he’s run, and he’s old,” said nonprofit development manager Eric Emmerling of Goffstown, N.H., 63, at Biden’s Manchester rally Monday. “I’ve kind of been excited for looking for somebody new, like a new JFK, a New Frontier kind of thing,” he said, referring to John F. Kennedy and the moniker given his agenda.
Furniture maker Jeffrey Cooper, 67, said that he thought Biden “was kind of rambling” in his Hampton speech. “I do have a concern not so much with Biden’s age, but with the fact that the younger generation, and I kind of agree, is looking for a new generation to step into the breach.”
Even those leaning toward Biden say that they will vote for anyone who can win against Trump. Alzheimer’s advocate Brenda Bouchard of Portsmouth, 61, who said arrived nearly three hours early for Biden’s Hampton event on Monday, said that beating Trump is her top priority.
