Jill Biden to Democrats: Your candidate may be 'better' on some policies but Joe Biden will beat Trump

Rebecca Morin
Updated

WASHINGTON – Former second lady Jill Biden has a message for Democratc primary voters: Your candidate might be better on certain policies, but Joe Biden will win.

During a campaign event in Nashua, N.H., on Monday, Jill Biden took on the Democratic Party's electability debate, saying that Democrats should vote in the upcoming primaries and caucuses for who will ultimately beat President Donald Trump even if they don't agree fully with all of Joe Biden's policy stances.

“I know that not all of you are committed to my husband, and I respect that,” she said. “But I want you to think about your candidate, his or her electability, and who’s going to win this race.”

Jill Biden to Democrats: Your candidate may be 'better' on some policies but Joe Biden will beat Trump
Jill Biden to Democrats: Your candidate may be 'better' on some policies but Joe Biden will beat Trump

Joe Biden, the former vice president, is currently the front-runner in the sprawling Democratic primary field of more than 20 candidates.

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In a CNN poll released Tuesday, Biden is at 29% — a 7 percentage-point jump from June. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont follows at 15% and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is at 14%. No other candidate broke double digits.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California had a 12-point drop to 5% in Tuesday's poll since June.

Biden has campaigned as a more centrist Democrat and has denounced certain progressive policies such as Medicare for All. Biden, instead, has said he wants to continue to build on the Affordable Care Act, the signature legislative achievement of President Barack Obama who Biden served under.

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“Your candidate might be better on, I don’t know, health care, than Joe is,” Jill Biden said Monday in New Hampshire. “But you’ve got to look at who’s going to win this election. And maybe you have to swallow a little bit and say, ‘OK, I personally like so and so better,’ but your bottom line has to be that we have to beat Trump.”

"So I think if your goal — I know my goal — is to beat Donald Trump, we have to have someone who can beat him," she concluded.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jill Biden to Democrats: Joe Biden is best choice to beat Donald Trump