Reelection
Main article: Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign
In October 2010, Biden said Obama had asked him to remain as his running mate for the 2012 presidential election,[215] but with Obama's popularity on the decline, White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley conducted some secret polling and focus group research in late 2011 on the idea of replacing Biden on the ticket with Hillary Clinton.[226] The notion was dropped when the results showed no appreciable improvement for Obama,[226] and White House officials later said Obama himself had never entertained the idea.[227]

Biden and Obama, July 2012
Biden's May 2012 statement that he was "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage gained considerable public attention in comparison to Obama's position, which had been described as "evolving".[228] Biden made his statement without administration consent, and Obama and his aides were quite irked, since Obama had planned to shift position several months later, in the build-up to the party convention.[176][229][230] Gay rights advocates seized upon Biden's statement,[229] and within days, Obama announced that he too supported same-sex marriage, an action in part forced by Biden's remarks.