MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump has welcomed ex-Vice President Joe Biden’s plans to enter the presidential race ahead of the 2020 election, expressing the hope that he will "have the intelligence" to wage a successful campaign.
Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty - you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 25 April 2019
According to Trump, the competition between Biden and his rivals from the Democratic Party would be "nasty." Trump added he was willing to compete with Biden.
Earlier on Thursday, Biden officially announced his candidacy for the 2020 US presidential election. He is expected to hold his first rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he will meet with a group of trade union activists and then he will set off on a tour across the states where the primaries and activists’ meetings will be held at the beginning of 2020, namely, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
Biden is the twentieth politician to announce his plans to contest presidency as a Democratic Party candidate at the 2020 election. Earlier, the presidential race was joined by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who competed against Hillary Clinton to run for the White House in 2016, former Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, Julian Castro, who used to serve as Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Barack Obama, ex-congressman from Maryland John Delaney, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, California senator Kamala Harris, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and New Jersey senator Cory Booker.
According to the results of a nationwide poll conducted by the Morning Consult survey research company among 5,000 Americans on April 15-21, Biden enjoys the support of 30% of the respondents, while Sanders is backed by 24%. Buttigieg supported by 9% of those polled ranks third.