Will he or won’t he? Vice President Joe Biden might want a shot at the Oval Office — we’re pretty sure, but maybe not.

The Syracuse University alumnus is certainly not making things easy for voters who are holding on to hope. The most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll revealed that if Biden jumped in right now, he would have the highest favorability rating of any Democratic candidate in the running.

The last few months have been nothing short of a tease.

In late August, Biden met with a key official for AFL-CIO, a union organization whose endorsement can change the course of an election. Now, CNN reports that political allies are seeing a new side of Biden — one that feels more like a presidential candidate.

But regardless of whether or not he’d be the best pick for the nomination, Biden’s losing a critical ally: time. If Biden decides to run, the delay of his campaign announcement may lose him his chance of winning the nomination.

That’s not to say that there isn’t any incentive for Biden to run. According to a Real Clear Politics average of six national polls, Biden is polling in second place at 22 percent behind Hillary Clinton, who’s averaging out 48 percent of the vote.

Biden’s 22 percent is all voters that would go straight to Clinton if he decided not to run. Therefore, he attracts a lot of the same voters that appeal to the Democratic frontrunner and may have a shot at taking her overall. If Biden chose to stay out of the running, the decision could be detrimental to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; however, a Biden run could give the Clinton camp a reason to worry.

When the then-Delaware senator launched his first White House bid in 2008, things were different. Voters had an overall neutral opinion of him because no one knew who he was. Since President Obama picked him as his running mate, Biden’s popularity has risen and fallen with that of the president’s.

Recently, Biden has been in the public eye after the death of his son, Beau, in May. Even this personal incident is linked to Biden’s tease when it was leaked that Beau’s dying wish was for his father to run for president again.

But launching a political campaign means a whole new level of scrutiny. Senate Democrats sympathetic to Biden’s cause are beginning to cast doubt on if America will still love their “Uncle Joe.” History has not been kind to Biden’s case, either.

Candidates jumping late into the race often crash on the campaign trail despite ranking highly in the polls before they decide to run. The problem is finding the right campaign team; and for Biden, he will have to move very quickly if he hopes to match both the Sanders and Clinton camps.

Starting the campaign late means that Biden has lost ample campaign time. His favorability reflects Biden-the-vice-president, and Biden has not left enough room before 2016 to jump the hurdles he will face now as a candidate under scrutiny.

The 72-year-old has a lot to lose, and an election could be next on the list if he does not address these challenges as soon as possible.

Keely Sullivan is a senior broadcast and digital journalism and French dual major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at kasull02@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @specialksully.

Published on October 7, 2015 at 11:36 pm