On Joe Biden’s first trip to New Hampshire as a 2020 presidential candidate, I stood inside a community college lobby in Manchester, chatting with a voter as we prepared to dash to our cars amid a torrential storm after his event.

The voter mentioned offhand that she had hugged Mr. Biden, but that she had been the one to request the hug.

The unusual caveat caught my attention, so I wrote it down before venturing outside.

It’s one I would hear over and over this summer from women — often over the age of 50 — who waited in line to embrace Mr. Biden. Sometimes they noted their hug requests gingerly, aware that other women have criticized his tactile campaigning style that has included unwanted hugs and touches — an approach for which he initially expressed regret but has also laughed off.

Others made no apology, talking almost combatively about their affection for the former vice president and their desire to show it. One woman in Nevada gave me a hug when I asked about her embrace of Mr. Biden.

“If you like somebody, you hug them,” she told me. “It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to figure that out.”

I’ve written about how many voters, especially in Iowa, often say they are inclined toward Mr. Biden at this early stage because they believe he can beat President Trump — not because they are especially enthused about his campaign vision.

But the women waiting in line to hug Joe Biden, many of them ardent Democrats from an older and less progressive generation, are a reminder of the significant good will he continues to enjoy from some voters, despite a summer of gaffes and controversies.

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What to read tonight

• Where does affirmative action leave Asian-Americans? A fascinating deep dive by The New York Times Magazine into the lawsuit against Harvard that’s forcing students and families to pick sides.