Biden will always represent the ‘safety candidate,’ says Democratic strategist

Democratic strategist Estuardo Rodriguez said Tuesday that Joe Biden will always represent the “safety candidate” in the 2020 race no matter what gaffe or slip-up he commits, arguing that voters already have a solid comfort level with the former vice president.

“I love Biden as much as anyone else out there on the Democratic side, but there’s still going to consistently be throughout the entire campaign that safety candidate,” Rodriguez, a principle at the Raben Group, told Hill.TV.

“No matter what he does, there’s always going to be some voters out there — middle of America — that may not be following every single policy proposal that [Massachusetts Sen.] Elizabeth Warren presents,” he continued. “They’re not going to get into the weeds on the policy — they’re going to say, ‘eh, I’m not sure but I’m going to go with Joe,’ ” he added.

Rodriguez’s comments come as a new Quinnipiac University survey of Iowa showed nearly a statistical tie among the race’s front-runners, with Elizabeth Warren at 20 percent support, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) at 19 percent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at 17 percent and Biden at 15 percent.

The survey also found that more than half of likely Democratic voters in the state — 52 percent — still have not made up their mind ahead of the Feb. 3 caucuses.

Rodriguez said he wasn’t phased by the lack of a clear leader in the first nominating contest, emphasizing that the crowded field will continue to shift over the course of the Democratic primary.

“The three-way tie there is going to continue to fluctuate and change, we still have a lot of time,” he told Hill.TV.

—Tess Bonn