“Biden’s advocacy for NAFTA and the TPP would suggest that the Washington-driven conventional wisdom that he has solid support among union households in the Midwest and elsewhere might be more complicated than the media is currently presenting,” says Waleed Shahid, communications director for the left-wing Justice Democrats. “Biden hasn’t been held accountable for his policy record and he’ll increasingly be exposed for not really being the populist hero he likes to present himself as.”

Many old-school Democratic voters believe free trade deals have been disastrous, closing down factories and shrinking American wages. Trump turned that opposition to his advantage, winning over some Democrats by bashing NAFTA and TPP…

Biden’s allies, meanwhile, have pushed back on the notion that he’s insufficiently pro-worker. Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Firefighters, said Biden “has a clear, 40-year track record of supporting workers, working families, union families every step of the way, from prevailing wage to living wage to protection of their retirement plan.” He added that he expects a “majority of the labor movement” will eventually back Biden.