The presidential race is continuing to develop amidst the Coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., which, as of early Friday morning, has more confirmed cases of the disease than any other single country in the world. According to a newly released Market Research Group poll of voters in Michigan, Democrats might be able to see their own response plan to issues like the Coronavirus actually get carried out. In Michigan, a swing state which proved crucial to Trump’s victory in 2016, likely Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leads by a margin of three percent. He nabbed 44 percent of the support compared to just 41 percent for Donald Trump.
The new poll had other hopeful news for Democrats as well. Incumbent Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) led Republican opponent John James by a full seven percent, which suggests that the state’s Democratic Senator has a solid winning coalition heading into November.
Democrats are hoping to win control of the Senate in the elections later this year. To nab that control, they’d need to pick up four seats in addition to holding onto the number that they already have. Notably, the Cook Political Report rates a full four currently Republican-held seats as toss-ups heading into November, suggesting that Democrats might be able to nab that victory after all come November. They also rate four additional currently Republican-held seats as only “leaning” Republican, which is the last stop before toss-up status. Those categorizations leave more than one-third of the GOP’s twenty-three seats that are up for grabs this November on the table.
Trump has been repeatedly tying his response to the Coronavirus pandemic to his re-election chances — and, conversely, Democrats have already begun hitting Trump in ads and public appearances for his Coronavirus response failings, which included his dismissal of concern over the situation as a supposed hoax shortly before cases in the U.S. spiked. Currently, more than 86,000 Americans are confirmed to have contracted the virus, and over 1,300 Americans have died.
Trump has turned the question of whether or not to re-open the economy despite social distancing needs into a political football, even though those on the other side aren’t even participating like he claims. He tweeted:
‘The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!’
The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2020
That’s grossly ignorant of the actual reality of the situation — which could be said for other statements too. He tweeted:
‘Our people want to return to work. They will practice Social Distancing and all else, and Seniors will be watched over protectively & lovingly. We can do two things together. THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM! Congress MUST ACT NOW. We will come back strong!’
Our people want to return to work. They will practice Social Distancing and all else, and Seniors will be watched over protectively & lovingly. We can do two things together. THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM! Congress MUST ACT NOW. We will come back strong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2020
The key point amidst the current Coronavirus pandemic is obviously not optics, but Trump doesn’t seem to firmly grasp that concept of actual gravity to the situation.
