Jill Biden has spoken out about accusations surrounding her husband’s physical interactions with women, saying in a new interview “it took a lot of courage for women to step forward”.

The former second lady joined The Daily Show on Wednesday to discuss her new book, Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself, as well as her husband’s 2020 presidential bid.

She responded to host Trevor Noah’s questions about Joe Biden being “too massage-y with people” by saying she’s prepared to confront those issues alongside her husband on the campaign trail, calling it “part of the game”.

“Look, it took a lot of courage for women to step forward and say, you know, ‘You’re in my space’, and Joe heard that,” she said on Wednesday. “And it just won’t happen again. He heard what they were saying.”

Mr Biden – the clear frontrunner thus far in the Democratic primaries – has also addressed the issue that plagued the rollout of his campaign launch, saying he’s sorry to those who have been made to feel uncomfortable by his interactions.

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He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. 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With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions’ testimony. She has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. 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“Social norms are changing,” he said in a statement near the start of his candidacy. “I understand that, and I’ve heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.

“That’s my responsibility and I will meet it,” he added.

On Wednesday, Ms Biden said she and her husband were not initially planning on running for the White House once again in 2020 – until Americans across the country, and their own grandchildren, urged them.

“We started to think about it and then we called our family together, we spoke to our children, we got our grandchildren all together,” she said. “And we said, what do you think? Do you think Pop should run for president? And to a grandchild they said – Pop has to run. He has to change the direction and bring people together and stop all this vitriol in this country.”

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Mr Biden has continued to rise in the polls since announcing his campaign earlier this year, and recently unveiled one of his first major proposals, focusing on education and teachers.