Why did the Democratic party base pick Joe Biden in 2020?

[Woke Frenzy]

How did Biden manage to command enough public support among the Democratic primary voters to be able to clinch the nomination for president?
The Democrats had a bunch of fit and prepared contenders, who have probably been waiting on the bench these days, eagerly anticipating their assignment.
How did Biden prevail against so many candidates, especially in consideration of his teething troubles at the beginning of that primary season? Is his status as Obama's former deputy the boring, yet only correct answer to that question; or is the truth a little more complex and sophisticated?
Did Jim Clyburn's endorsement one day prior to the South Carolina primary really play such a pivotal role as the media intended to make us believe?

[jaichind]

He is the best compromise candidate for the Dem establishment to stop Sanders.   It is a very similar story to how the LDP establishment in 2021 stepped into stop Kono in the LDP Prez race.

Given various LDP kingpins stop Kono at all costs positioning the map of the LDP Prez race to the 2020 Dem primary would be

河野太郎(Kono Taro)  = Sanders
岸田文雄(Kishida Fumio) = Biden
高市早苗(Takaichi Sanae) = Buttigieg
野田聖子(Noda Seiko) = Warren
Abe = Obama

The basic idea is to let Kishida and Takaichi fight it out to be the establishment candidate but make sure Noda stays in the race to split Kono's support.  Then consolidate in the second round around one candidate pro-establishment candidate (most likely Kishida) to defeat Kono in the second round.

[RINO Tom]

^ Hindsight is 20/20, but this is a sad fact if true.  It's amazing how much rationalization takes place on political sites to explain away why we have such completely unqualified and unsuited candidates right now, haha.

[MABA 2020]

Even though Biden is not the right candidate in 2024, he was in 2020. Maybe he was helped by Covid but he was a far stronger candidate four years ago than he is now.

[SWE]

Name recognition + association with Obama gave him the broadest appeal. If voters are learning about you for the first time when you walk on the debate stage, you're at a nearly insurmountable disadvantage, especially in a crowded field. Even a modest name recognition advantage can be huge, and Biden had universal name recognition. Bernie was the only person who could really compete with that, but, while generally popular with your average Democrat, had more detractors within the Democratic electorate that made it difficult for him to win a one on one when the other guy has the pitch of "hey you guys remember Obama? You all liked him didn't you? Well I'm basically his third term."

If the Democratic primary electorate could run Obama for a third term against his will they'd do it in a heart beat. The guy who's name was also on his lawn signs was the next best thing

[wnwnwn]

Remember, some expected him to be a one term candidate.

[Blue3]

1. Obama's VP.

2. Desire for "Return to Normal."

3. South Carolina being early in the primaries (and its number of delegates) followed by how Super Tuesday was sequenced that year to allow momentum.

4. COVID, and Trump's handling of it.

[darklordoftech]

Perceived electability, reassuring, qualifed to "right the ship", acceptable to all factions of the Democratic Party, etc.

[Beet]

The Democratic primary electorate is extremely subservient to people on channels like MSNBC, and they spent the Spring pretty much dooming about evil Bernie and had everyone rally around Biden as a Stop Bernie candidate. The day after South Carolina every moderate candidate except Bloomberg dropped out and endorsed Biden to stop Sanders. Furthermore, the calendar allowed Biden to rack up huge delegate margins in the conservative South before Bernie could catch a breath. Biden was a great candidate for older, more conservative Southern Democrats.

[Lumine]

If you remember the 2020 Democratic debates, they were often a race to the bottom to be the most terminally online candidate and/or say the most unelectable stuff possible (see: the discussion on the border for a good example of it).

Biden was one of the few that stood in contrast to it in a positive manner, because there are also those on the other side of the equation racing to be as a out of touch with the base as possible (see: Delaney and company).

Ultimately, the candidates misread the base as being more to the left - and paying more attention to social media - than it actually was. Combine that, a few lucky breaks (the whole consolidation of the field after the IA-NH humiliation), and Biden's strong points as well as the desire for electability, and there you have it.

[Woke Frenzy]

So, we can can put on record that...

• Bernie thwarted the White House ambitions of two politicians
• Sleepy Joe owes his presidency to Obama (and ironically also to Trump)
• the solidly Republican Deep South has way too much influence on the Democratic primaries

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

People were told he was the most electable. Sure, he was more electable than candidates like Buttigieg or Bloomberg.

[Blue3]

So, we can can put on record that...

• Bernie thwarted the White House ambitions of two politicians
• Sleepy Joe owes his presidency to Obama (and ironically also to Trump)
• the solidly Republican Deep South has way too much influence on the Democratic primaries

Just scratch that first point.

[wnwnwn]

People didn´t trust Tulsi, Bernie, major Pete and Warren as electable Major Mike was... a DINO?
Klobuchar had a good case for electability but couldn´t get much support.

[dw93]

He was the Mitt Romney, John Kerry, or Bob Dole of 2020 in a sense that me made the best pitch of electability in a weak field, and had it not been for the pandemic he would've suffered the same fate the three of them did.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

He was the Mitt Romney, John Kerry, or Bob Dole of 2020 in a sense that me made the best pitch of electability in a weak field, and had it not been for the pandemic he would've suffered the same fate the three of them did.

After Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, McCain, Romney, and Hillary, the "most electable" candidate finally accidentally won.

Of course Dukakis, Kerry, Romney, and Biden were all really boring.
Gore was perceived as being boring too.
And McCain and Hillary had other issues.