America
Hillary Clinton's lead eroded by Joe Biden's surge in poll
Washington, Sep 9
US Vice President Joe
Biden's support is surging nationally as he nears a decision on whether
he would launch his own presidency bid, a poll showed on Tuesday.
While
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton still leads the Democratic
field by a large margin, snatching 42 percent of support, the poll by
Monmouth University showed that Biden, who has yet to throw his hat into
the ring, garners 22 percent of support, Xinhua reported.
The
survey said compared with the poll number of last month, Clinton's
support rate has dropped 10 points, while Biden has gained 10 points.
If
Biden were to launch his campaign, the poll said, the approval gap
between Biden and Clinton would become even smaller, with 34 percent of
Democrats saying they would be "somewhat likely" to support him and
another seven percent saying they would be "very likely" to support
Biden.
Biden's freshest flirtation with his own run for
presidency first surfaced on Aug. 1 after a New York Times column
claimed that Biden's associates had already started to contact
Democratic leaders and donors who have so far not endorsed Hillary
Clinton or who have become increasingly concerned about odds of a
successful run by the Clinton camp.
Despite speculation that a
Biden run was approaching, the vice president spoke up his concerns last
week in a rare move, saying the decision depends on whether he and his
family have "the emotional energy to run."
"The factor is, can I
do it? Can my family undertake what is an arduous commitment that we'd
be proud to undertake in ordinary circumstances?" Biden said at an
event.
"The honest to God answer is I just don't know," he said.