Is it normal to keep losing stats? In demo, I kept choosing confidence +1 choices, but I continued to lose stats. In the end, my confidence stats was too low to introduce Paul to Bernard.
Yes, sorry: at the beginning of the story, Paul is quite the disaster! But you start getting points really quickly, so don't worry about that. You can get enough points to meet Bernard, though, if you choose every single option that shows confidence. However, although that's up to the player, of course, it's a rather unrealistic option: Paul is very optimistic, but he also drags an "smalltown boy" complex and often feels out of place.
Anyway, Paul doesn't make a great impression on Bernard, so you aren't missing anything. There will be more chances of meeting him properly!