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PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES DONALD Trump has been campaigning in Florida and Georgia today, two states he won four years ago but which now threaten to pass Democratic challenger Joe Biden, in a visible sign of how far he has to catch up. with only 18 days to go. until the election.
In Fort Myers, Florida, a state that in many scenarios Trump simply has to win if he is to rack up the electoral votes necessary for a second term, the president courted the elders.
The group was part of their winning coalition in 2016 that, according to polls, now leans heavily toward Biden. And in a state synonymous with great retirement communities, Florida seniors have a particular influence.
“We love our senior citizens,” Trump said in his speech. “You dedicated your life to this country and I am dedicating my life to you.”
But he is struggling after a year in which his often dismissive attitude toward the Covid-19 pandemic led many Americans to view him as indifferent or at least incapable of leading a crisis.
In front of a friendly audience, Trump stuck to his message that strict coronavirus lockdowns, intended to quell the viral spread, are worse than the disease itself. He said upcoming vaccines and current drugs meant that the risks were now drastically reduced.
“Well I’m here, I’m telling you,” he said, recalling his own fight with Covid-19 and his successful recovery over the past two weeks.
The line drew laughter, applause, and chants of “four more years.”
Trump was scheduled to hold rallies later today in Ocala, Florida and in Macon, Georgia, a state in which he beat Hillary Clinton by roughly five percentage points in 2016, but now he has to spend time and money defending.
Hard numbers
Trump says the polls showing him heading for defeat are “bogus,” but the polls are proving remarkably consistent and pessimistic for the Republican.
A RealClearPolitics average of recent Georgia polls gives Biden a 1.2-point lead in the state, and a Quinnipiac University poll even saw the Democrat rise seven points.
Georgia is seen as one of the reliably Republican southern states that is crucial to Trump’s path to victory on November 3, but it has been biased in recent years.
“Warning lights are flashing red (for Trump) and alarms are going off in the Peach Tree estate,” said Quinnipiac University survey analyst Tim Malloy.
On Wednesday, Trump held a campaign rally in Iowa, a Midwestern state that won easily, by 9.4 points, in 2016, but now appears to be at stake.
A RealClearPolitics average of recent Iowa polls gives Biden a 1.2-point lead over Trump in Hawkeye state, identical to his lead in Georgia.
Polls also show Biden consolidating predicted victories in Florida and Pennsylvania, another crucial state in electoral college math.
Biden, Obama on the attack
As Trump visits Florida and Georgia, Biden will spend the day in Michigan, a state Trump narrowly won in 2016 but where polls also lag him this time.
Biden was to comment on health care and address a meeting of black religious leaders.
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He will get help from Democratic superstar Barack Obama on Wednesday of next week when the former president, who had Biden as his vice president, campaigns in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
As the voting clouds darken for Trump, prominent members of his own Republican party – Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas – are raising the alarm.
Sasse, in a phone call with voters this week obtained by The Washington Examiner, said a Trump defeat appears “likely” and that Republicans may lose the Senate as well.
“I am now considering the possibility of a Republican bloodbath in the Senate,” Sasse said.
Sasse had harsh words for Trump, saying he is “obsessed with television,” “narcissistic,” and allowed his family to treat “the presidency as a business opportunity.”
Sasse also criticized Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has left more than 217,000 dead in the United States, and said he treated it as a “public relations crisis.”
Trump and Biden will hold a final debate next Thursday.
One was scheduled to be held this Thursday, but Trump backed down after he switched to a virtual debate following his Covid-19 diagnosis. Instead, they held rival town hall events.
© AFP 2020
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