by Chris White
Former Vice President Joe Biden is asking Twitter executives and other tech titans about how to appeal to young people as the Democrat prepares for a possible presidential run, CNBC reported Wednesday.
Biden is talking to various social media companies about what appeals to young people, the report notes, citing an anonymous source who did not provide a name of the executives. Twitter refused to confirm the report, telling reporters instead that the company provides advice to anyone who asks.
“We work with elected officials, candidates and former politicians regularly when it comes to them getting the most out of Twitter,” a Twitter spokesman said. Biden is 76 years old and has been a mainstay in American politics for more than four decades. He is also attempting to court a digital presence.
Athan Stephanopoulos, the president of NowThis News, a liberal online news outlet, confirmed that Biden had indeed contacted his company.
“We are trying to reinforce that outlets like NowThis are an important place to spend time and reach these audiences,” he told reporters, describing key issues that bring young voters to the ballot box. “Candidates will have to take a stand on these issues as it relates to talking to this whole new generation of voters.”
Biden holds a high favorability rating among a slew of demographics, according to an NPR poll in January. He has the support of black people (70 percent), white people without a college education (71 percent), and white people with a college education (83 percent). His numbers are sky-high compared to Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Kamala Harris of California.
Results from the NPR poll come off the heels of a Morning Consult poll in December 2018 showing Biden leading the pack of prospective Democratic nominees in 2020. Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders followed a close second in the poll, drawing 19 percent among Democrats.
Some Republicans worry that Biden poses the biggest threat to President Donald Trump. GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, for one, told reporters in December that the former vice president might be what the Democratic Party needs to win in 2020 despite being a flawed candidate.
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Chris White is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Chris on Facebook and Twitter.
Photos of Joe Biden by Joe Biden.
