In the midst of a pandemic that has shuttered businesses and wreaked havoc on supply chains around the world, Democrats are worried about the inability of former Vice President Joe Biden to command attention from people.
On Friday, MSNBC analyst John Heilemann said there was a “super high” level of frustration inside the Biden campaign as the Democratic presidential front-runner struggles to gain the spotlight while President Trump dominates news coverage with near-daily coronavirus task force briefings.
“Frustration levels are super high,” Heilemann said during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “The reality is that the former vice president is in a terrible position. In the sense that he doesn’t have a platform. He doesn’t have real standing in this crisis.”
In March, Biden promised “shadow coronavirus briefings” from a studio in his basement that would air as Trump addressed the national media each day, but Biden’s efforts have fallen short of expectations, two Obama-era officials told the Hill. Reports have come out about how Biden has struggled for visibility, and a lot of buzz in recent weeks has been focused on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been lauded for his daily updates on the spiraling situation in his state.
A recent poll from YouGov/Yahoo showed Biden had been the least visible among top American politicians and lawmakers during the pandemic. He ranked well behind Trump, Cuomo, Vice President Mike Pence, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“So you look at, obviously, Donald Trump, who has the ability to dominate, for good or bad, has the ability to dominate coverage,” Heilemann said. “He’s in the middle of the entire thing and will have this big platform and megaphone, bigger than ever. You also have governors, officeholders, who are dealing with this on the front line.”
