President Donald Trump can definitely not count on re-election this November. A new poll from Quinnipiac University has presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with an 11 percent lead on the national level. A full 50 percent of voters said that they’d support Biden, while only 39 percent of respondents said that they’d support Trump. No matter how many of the undecided or third party-leaning voters that Trump might garner for his side, Biden’s lead seems already almost entirely insurmountable, since he’s almost got an overall majority.
The new Quinnipiac numbers track roughly with the trends that have been found from numerous other pollsters, among whom Biden routinely leads. Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy commented:
‘What does the 11 point Biden lead tell us? At best for Team Trump, it says voter confidence in President Trump is shaky. At worst for them, as coronavirus cases rise, Trump’s judgement is questioned – and November looms.’
Indeed — the Coronavirus seems like it will have an inescapable impact on the 2020 elections. The United States is projected to soon hit a total of 100,000 Coronavirus deaths, and that overall total may grow by tens of thousands more in the weeks and months ahead, according to estimates from sources like the University of Washington. In the new Quinnipiac numbers, a majority of voters disapprove of the job that the president is doing in response to the crisis. The outlet reports:
‘On the president’s response to the coronavirus, 41 percent of voters approve and 56 percent disapprove. That is down from a 46 – 51 percent approval rating in April.’
Why on earth would voters approve of the president’s handling of the Coronavirus? He loves to congratulate himself for a supposed job well done, but tens of thousands of Americans are dead. Deaths per capita from the virus are markedly lower in places like South Korea, where the government took the virus seriously from the very beginning. At the end of February, Trump was still claiming that Coronavirus concern was a “hoax” and suggesting that coverage of the growing crisis was some kind of plot to make him look bad.
And what’s he doing now? Tweeting unhinged nonsense about how vote-by-mail plans in states like Michigan are supposedly some kind of voter fraud plot.
He posted:
‘Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!’
Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020
And about Nevada, he added:
‘State of Nevada “thinks” that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t! If they do, “I think” I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. @RussVought45 @USTreasury’
State of Nevada “thinks” that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can’t! If they do, “I think” I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. @RussVought45 @USTreasury
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020
Little of that has any relationship to reality. Many states have used vote-by-mail for a long time. There is no evidence for the president’s claims of some kind of widespread fraud.
