Biden says Sanders would lose to Trump

Former Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday that President Trump would beat Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a general election. 

Asked by NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” if Sanders would lose to the Republican incumbent in the fall, Biden said, “I do.” 

“I think Bernie Sanders’s positions on a number of issues, even in the Democratic Party, are very controversial,” Biden said, noting the hefty price tag of the senator’s signature “Medicare for All” proposal. 

“Everybody’s going to look at Bernie’s record as closely as they’ve looked at mine over the last five months, and I think they’re going to see some stark differences in where we stand.”

Biden’s comments followed his win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary. Sanders is still leading the 2020 Democratic presidential field after the first four voting states. 

Biden has been making the case that his more moderate proposals would help Democrats against Trump, arguing that Sanders’s progressive agenda and democratic socialist label could hurt the party and down ballot candidates. 

The candidates will next face off on Tuesday, when the largest number of states will hold primaries and caucuses. 

A spokesperson for the Sanders campaign was not immediately available for comment.