Taking cues from Don Lemon? Biden rushes to condemn Kenosha riots after CNN host says Dem silence ‘shows up in the polls’

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has denounced the “needless violence” that has gripped Kenosha for three days, prompting critics to suggest that his delayed response was due to bad poll results.

As Kenosha is bracing itself for a potential fourth night of violent unrest that has already seen numerous local businesses ransacked and torched, Biden released a video statement, urging protesters to stop destroying their own communities.

Protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary, but burning down communities is not protest, it’s needless violence – violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses, and shutters businesses that serve the community

The chaos in Kenosha has already cost two people their lives. Biden's admission that it was a far cry from a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally came shortly after prominent CNN host Don Lemon opined that, by keeping quiet on the crisis, Democrats risk losing the demographics the former VP needs to have on board in the November election.

“It’s showing up in the polling. It’s showing up in focus groups,” Lemon said, speaking to fellow CNN anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday evening. In the rare criticism of the Democratic party, Lemon said that it was “ignoring this problem or hoping it will go away,” adding that neither appears to be happening any time soon.

The timing of Biden’s statement was not lost on conservatives, suggesting that he was moved by his polling numbers rather than by the plight of the businesses he referred to in his message when he took aim at rioters and looters.

“I noticed that CNN said your polls were probably down because of the rioting. I’m guessing that’s why you finally mentioned about rioting and the violence being wrong. I think it was Lemon that said it,” a commenter said.

Others accused Biden of jumping on the bandwagon by coming out against the violence “90 days too late.”

The poll numbers cited by Lemon have not been made public. However, public polls tell a similar story. A survey released by Marquette University Law School on Wednesday found that approval of street protests has dropped from 61 percent in June to 48 percent this month. Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has also fallen by 10 points, to 49 percent, while support for the police has increased and only 17 percent of respondents agree with defunding police departments – a core demand of some BLM activists and Democratic politicians.

While parts of Kenosha have been almost reduced to scorched earth in the three days following the Sunday shooting of black man Jacob Flake by police, violence has also marred the protests against police brutality for three months in the wake of the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in police custody in late May.

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