Biden controversy leaves little mark with South Carolina voters

“You have to be able to work with everybody — whether you like them, if you are a different party, whatever — and that’s somebody I’m looking for, not somebody who is divisive like what we have now,” said Minter, 49, as she waited to enter Representative James Clyburn’s Fish Fry in Columbia, South Carolina, one of several events this weekend that drew 21 of the 23 Democratic presidential candidates, including Biden.

The former vice president’s comments and several days of tit-for-tat sniping with his critics had been expected to overshadow the gathering and undercut his deep support in South Carolina, where African Americans account for about 60% of Democratic voters. Instead, the controversy seemed to fall off the radar screen…

“The things that people try to define Joe Biden on seems to be not the things that everyday people, particularly here in South Carolina, are willing to yield to that on,” said Antjuan Seawright, a South Carolina Democratic strategist. “That just goes to show you how out of touch some of the people in Washington, D.C., and the media in New York are versus the people who are on the ground.”