A lot of those views seem to have genuinely softened as he aged (after all, he actively championed gay marriage during the Obama admin)
he also actively campaigned on appeasing segregationists in his much more recent campaign until kamala had to embarrass him publicly in a debate; so no, those views haven’t softened as evidenced by both biden’s decades long track record and a painful recent schooling by kamala; among other examples from the recent past.
also, “unsavory” is putting it extremely mildly when people were put in prison; homes permanently broken; and livelihoods were destroyed by biden et al’s actions.