Another week passed in the 2020 US Presidential campaign without incumbent Donald Trump making progress to cut former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead, according to the Bonus.com Election Odds Tracker.
For the third straight week, Biden maintained a 20-point lead over Trump. The tracker continues to underline the President’s inability to redirect the national conversation away from the coronavirus and racial injustice.
Trump Administration Hopes to Blame COVID-19 on Dr. Anthony Fauci
With new COVID-19 cases topping 60,000 per day and the country closing in on 130,000 deaths, the Trump administration hopes Americans will soon forget the virus’ toll on the economy and everyday life.
Although the possibility of that approach persuading voters seems slim, members of Trump’s administration have focused their attention to discrediting Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci’s rise to prominence in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak rankled Pres. Trump, who attempted to minimize the virus.
Peter Navarro, financial advisor to the President, wrote an op-ed in USA Today this week titled “Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.” With the coronavirus seemingly out of control in the United States, credibility attacks on Dr. Fauci are doubtful to resonate with the general public.
Recent polling showed Dr. Fauci had a 67%-26% trust advantage among voters over Pres. Trump on all coronavirus matters.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham even warned President Trump on the danger of attacking Dr. Fauci. “I think any effort to undermine (Dr. Fauci) is not going to be productive, quite frankly,” the senator said.
How the Story of Jeff Sessions Could Affect the Presidential Election
On Tuesday night, former Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions lost his re-election bid for his old Senate seat in Alabama. Sessions lost the Republican primary to former Auburn football coach, and Trump-endorsed, Tommy Tuberville.
Sessions’ fate signals a possible endgame for senators who don’t fall in line with Trump. The President continued to blame Sessions for appointing Robert Mueller to head the Russian election interference probe and recusing himself from overseeing the investigation.
Democrats need to claim three seats to tie the Senate, but polls suggest that they could even take control of the chamber in November. And that creates a problem for Republican senators who are looking to kiss Trump’s ring while distancing themselves from his sagging popularity.
The Washington Post reported last week that GOP pollster Frank Luntz told a group of Republican senators they needed to maintain loyalty to Trump, but also create a platform to shine on their own. With Sessions’ defeat on Tuesday, senators up for re-election will walk a tightrope until voters get their final say on election night.
But having the ability to take out Trump and claim the Senate could be all Democratic voters need to create an energetic turnout come November.
Trump’s Problem With Attacking Mail-In Ballots
President Trump has longed railed against mail-in ballots although he voted by mail in the 2018 midterms using his Florida address. But the President’s attacks on vote by mail could create even bigger problems for the entire Republican party in 2020.
Glen Bolger, longtime GOP pollster, took to Twitter this week to sound the alarm on the realistic possibility that Trump could be affecting, not only his re-election chances, but down ballot nominees.
“Yikes—just finished a statewide survey in a swing state,” Bolger wrote. “The quarter of the voters who plant to vote by mail or absentee break 15% Trump/75% Biden on the Pres. Ballot. Republicans are skeptical about voting by mail, and that’s a problem up and down ballot.”
Washington Post found in late June that 16 Trump officials had voted by mail, including Trump, attorney general William Barr, and Vice President Mike Pence.
The unfounded attacks by Trump on mail-in voting could cost him votes come election day.
Biden Moves Into Trump Territory
Lifted by a double-digit lead in polls, Biden’s campaign has started the tricky process of expanding the map in hopes of building a larger coalition of support.
A state that has shown signs of swinging back to the blue side is Texas. A recent poll by the Dallas Morning News and UT-Tyler gave Biden a five-point lead over Trump. While the Trump campaign calls Biden’s hope in Texas “a pipe dream,” the former VP acknowledges the inroads made by Beto O’ Rourke in the Ted Cruz Senate race in 2018.
Republicans haven’t lost Texas in the Presidential election since 1976 and on the state level, no Democrat has won a position since 1994. A Biden win in Texas would certainly spell doom for Trump’s re-election chances and could reconfigure political power in the Lone Star State for decades.
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