Dem pollster says Biden’s past suggests he will seek to empower women

Democratic pollster Molly Murphy told Hill.TV on Friday that former Vice President Joe Biden’s record on women’s issues suggests he will continue to push for policies that empower women as a 2020 contender. 

“I think if you look at him versus anybody else in the field, there’s very little evidence to suggest that he’s going to be behind the times in terms of his policies as it relates to women, his treatment of women, the way he’s empowered women, and had women in senior leadership positions,” Murphy, a partner at ALG Research, told host Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.” 

Biden has faced backlash in recent weeks for allegations that he inappropriately touched women in the past. 

The former vice president did not apologize to his accusers on Friday, telling “The View” he was “sorry if what I did in talking to them in trying to console if in fact, they took it in a different way.”

“So I invaded your space and I’m sorry this happened,” he said. “But I’m not sorry in the sense I think I did anything that was intentionally wrong or did anything inappropriate.”

The former vice president did apologize for how Anita Hill was treated by the Senate Judiciary Committee during her 1991 testimony about then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, but defended his own treatment of her. 

“I’m sorry for the way she got treated,” Biden said. “Look at what I said and didn’t say; I don’t think I treated her badly.”

Biden contacted Hill in the days leading up to his 2020 presidential bid to express his regret, but Hill said she was not convinced he was taking full responsibility for the events from the Thomas confirmation hearings.

— Julia Manchester


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