Biden gains traction with emergence of racism issue

Joe Biden, former vice president of the U.S. and a current presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, met with the family of late George Floyd on Saturday who was killed by being knelt on by a white police officer. It seems to be Biden’s strategy to differentiate himself from U.S. President Donald Trump who is hostile toward anti-racism protestors.

The Democratic presidential candidate attended a memorial for late Floyd in Houston, Texas on Monday and met with his family members for about an hour. Chris Stewart, a lawyer of the Floyds, posted a picture of Biden and Floyd’s daughter Gianna on Twitter. “He listened, heard their pain, and shared in their woe. Listening to one another is what will begin to heal America,” wrote another family lawyer Benjamin Crump. Biden lost his first wife and daughter to a car accident in 1972 and his first son to cancer five years ago.

Floyd was born in North Carolina but spent pretty much all of his life in Houston. The memorial service hosted by civil rights activist and minister Al Sharpton was attended by the family members of the black men and women killed by white police officers or vigilantes. “We will seek justice in his name,” Floyd’s younger brother Philonise said listing the names of black victims one by one. Biden wanted to attend the private ceremony on Tuesday but decided to deliver a video message instead to avoid any possible disturbance from his guards.

According to CNN’s survey of 1,259 adults on who they would vote for today conducted from June 2 to June 5, the approval rating of Biden was 55 percent, which was 14 percentage points higher than President Trump’s. This was the biggest gap between the two candidates among recent polls. Biden also won over 50 percent approval ratings in four out of five polls conducted during the recent 10 days, CNN reported. Considering that the approval ratings of former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who went against then-candidate Trump in 2016 were never once over 50 percent, the Biden camp seems to be heading in the right direction.


Ga-In Koo comedy9@donga.com