How Coronavirus Is Destroying Donald Trump’s Presidency
It looks like the US president will have both a depression and a pandemic on his hands, and his supporters will feel the pain
The coronavirus pandemic is on the verge of destroying Donald Trump’s presidency, with momentous consequences not just for the United States but also the world.
Mercifully, Trump himself has tested negative for the virus. But his leadership has proved catastrophic, and public opinion is turning on him.
A recent CNN poll showed his Democratic challengerJoe Biden leading Trump 53 percent to 42 percent among registered voters. In fact Biden has led in every head-to-head poll taken in the last six weeks.
Recent polling of all voters has also awarded Biden a powerful advantage; a Real Clear Politics general election poll tracker has the former vice president up 6.4 points over Trump.
Admittedly, in the 2016 elections, Trump showed that he doesn’t need a majority of the popular vote to win. But Biden is already ahead of the president in swing states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He’s neck and neck with Trump in Michigan, one of the rustbelt states that gave Trump victory in 2016 – a state the Republicans must win to have any chance this year.
Biden beats Trump in Florida by 6 points, according to a recent poll conducted by the University of North Florida. If results like these are duplicated in November, Biden will win by a landslide.
The clearest sign yet that the pressure was getting to Trump came at his White House briefing on Tuesday.
The briefing collapsed into near chaos as the president clashed with journalists, and bizarrely claimed that he had “total authority” when it came to public health rules over the virus.
And remember this. In the United States, unlike Europe, the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic are yet to come.
- Source : Peter Oborne
