Mr Biden’s national lead over US President Donald Trump has slipped since earlier this month, and now sits at 11 points, according to a new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll. The survey of 1,000 registered voters found the Democratic presidential nominee leading Mr Trump, 53 percent to 42 percent. It was conducted between October 9 and October 12.
In the the previous NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, which was published on October 4, Mr Biden held a 14-point lead over Mr Trump, 53 percent to 39 percent,
Mr Biden is currently leading among major demographic groups, including a 91 percent to four percent advantage among Black voters and a 62 percent to 26 percent edge among Hispanics.
He also holds a strong lead among independent voters, who support him by a 46 percent to 39 percent margin in the poll.
As the race is about to enter its final stage, unearthed reports shed light on Mr Biden’s time as Vice President.
While in China in 2011, Mr Biden inadvertently stepped into the US culture wars with a seemingly off-hand comment about China’s one-child policy that caused American abortion opponents to rebuke him.
In the question and answer session following his speech to an audience at Sichuan University, Mr Biden was asked what the US planned to do to fix its fiscal problems to reassure Chinese holders of US debt.
Mr Biden explained that US policymakers had already agreed to make more than $1trillion in cuts. He even got down into the weeds and alluded to the congressional super committee.
Then, in what appeared to be an attempt at striking a sympathetic chord with his Chinese audience, the former Vice President alluded to the looming demographic disasters faced by both China and the US — ever fewer workers paying to support ever more retirees.
He said: “But as I was talking to some of your leaders, you share a similar concern here in China.
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“You have no safety net.
“Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I’m not second-guessing — of one child per family.
“The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people.
“Not sustainable.”
Former presidential hopeful Mitt Romney joined a growing chorus of Republican outrage at Mr Biden’s comments.
The former the former Massachusetts Governor said: “China’s one-child policy is gruesome and barbaric.
“Vice President Biden’s acquiescence to such a policy should shock the conscience of every American.
“Instead of condoning the policy, Vice President Biden should have condemned it in the strongest possible terms.
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“There can be no defence of a government that engages in compulsory steriliSation and forced abortions in the name of population control.”
His comments came one day after former Republican House Speaker John Boehner said he was “deeply troubled” by Mr Biden’s words and that the policy “should not be condoned by any American official.”
Mr Boehner urged the White House to provide “a correction or clarification” to Mr Biden’s comments.
The former Vice President’s spokeswoman said: “The Obama Administration strongly opposes all aspects of China’s coercive birth limitation policies, including forced abortion and sterilisation.
“The Vice President believes such practices are repugnant. He also pointed out, in China, that the policy is, as a practical matter, unsustainable.
“He was arguing against the One Child Policy to a Chinese audience.”