Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says that he was somewhat relieved to hear Vice President Joe Biden announce on Wednesday that he decided against entering the 2016 race, because defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be much easier.
"I'm actually happy about it because I would rather run against Hillary," the billionaire real estate mogul told USA Today, according to The Washington Times. "I think beating Hillary on her record will not be very difficult. Her record has been atrocious."
Trump said he personally thinks Biden "would have been somewhat tougher" of an opponent, but that the vice president realized he was too late to the game and would have lost to Clinton.
Running as vice president and losing would have hurt "his legacy very badly," Trump said. "As a vice president, to run and lose, I think would have been very bad for him, and I think he probably saw he was late."
"He probably looked at polls," Trump continued. "I'm a believer in polls. I only like them because I've been No. 1 for 100 days now, which is pretty good. How often do you see polls are wrong? Not too often."
In a new national poll released Wednesday by ABC/The Washington Post, Trump continued to hold a commanding lead in the Republican field with 32 percent support among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are registered to vote. His closest competitor, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, trailed with 22 percent.
The poll also asked voters who they expect to win the GOP nomination and who has the greatest chance of winning the 2016 general election, and Trump came out on top for each with 42 percent and 43 percent, signaling that he is starting to resemble a traditional front-runner rather than an insurgent fad, as HNGN previously reported.
