With Election Day 2020 now just six months away, 56,000 Americans dead from the COVID-19 virus, and President Donald Trump’s poll numbers in free fall, some of his campaign’s allies are convinced the president’s many missteps during his response to the novel coronavirus may already have doomed any chance he had of reelection.
The Associated Press (AP) reports:
“Four years after Trump captured the White House by perfectly threading narrow victories in critical battleground states, he is betting that a relentless focus on his base will yield a repeat performance. It’s a risky strategy because Trump’s standing in some of those states shows signs of weakening. And there’s little evidence to suggest he has significantly broadened his appeal in other places to offset those vulnerabilities.”
Doug Cole, a GOP operative in Arizona, noted that Trump’s 2020 opponent, Joe Biden, has a compelling message that will sound attractive to many voters who are exhausted after four years of upheaval under Trump:
“People are going to look for stability. Biden can capitalize on that.”
Added to the equation is the fact that Trump has been pressing for a reopening of the country in an effort to get the economy going. But such a strategy carries risks. Namely, if Americans start dying again in states that have reopened, Trump may well get blamed.
Of particular concern to the Trump 2020 campaign are polls showing the incumbent behind Biden in battleground states that Trump must have if he hopes to win reelection:
“Coronavirus has threatened to rewrite the Electoral College map, and Trump’s campaign has become concerned about losing support in several key swing states, particularly Florida and Wisconsin. Some advisers have all but written off Michigan, which Trump captured in 2016 by fewer than 11,000 votes. He is now locked in a feud with the state’s Democratic governor.”
Biden, some political experts note, can stress his eight years as vice president for Barack Obama as a selling point at a time when voters want competence and experience:
“In former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump faces a presumptive Democratic nominee whose promises of across-the-aisle outreach and pragmatic, experienced-based management may play well in several battlegrounds states. That includes Arizona, which has a vast suburban population uneasy with the constant Trump drama, tweets and base plays.”
The political math is simple: If Biden can win all of the states Hillary Clinton carried in 2016 and pick off a few she narrowly lost — Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin — Trump will be denied reelection.
And if Trump continues to rail about putting disinfectants into human bodies to treat the virus, it seems safe to bet more voters will refuse to cast a ballot for him come November.
Featured Image Via NBC News
