Following criticism from Democrats in South Florida, Joe Biden is finally going after voters President Trump seemed to be winning over.
The campaign is spending millions on political ads and Biden himself made campaign stops in Little Havana and Little Haiti ahead of a town hall on Monday.
The campaign expects to be back in the coming weeks.
Mateo Gomez, 22, is a first-time undecided voter and was at the town hall hosted by NBC News. He asked Biden how he planned to represent a younger generation of voters and ensure they get a fair return on their work.
Gomez said he thought Biden’s answer that he would address college debt and home ownership were significant policy proposals for most young voters, but not for him.
He lives at home and his family helped pay for his college education.
"To be honest with you, I am still waiting…but, I am leaning toward Vice President Biden," Gomez said.
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Biden was also asked about being labeled a communist and a socialist by Republicans. Gomez said Biden's forceful answer could help him among Cubans and Venezuelans who feel the Democratic Party has moved too far to the left.
“Do I look like a socialist?" Biden replied.
He reminded the audience he was viewed as a centrist and a moderate in the Democratic primary.
“Even though a lot of us knew that, that he is not a communist or a socialist, it was something that needed to be affirmed for people who think that,” Gomez said.
According to a new poll, Biden heads into the second presidential debate in Miami next week in better shape among Hispanics and Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County.
A poll of 600 likely voters taken after the first debate and before the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis showed Biden leading Trump among Hispanics. An earlier poll by Bendixen & Amandi International showed the candidates tied. Among Cuban-Americans, Trump beats Biden 61% to 35% though Biden has improved his standing among the group.
“Biden is still off the pace that Hillary Clinton did in Miami-Dade four years ago when she almost won by 30 points. If he underperforms here, he is going to have to make up that ground in other counties, likely, with white-Anglo voters,” Democrat pollster Fernand Amandi said.
