Hi, I am Nivedita Varadarajan and welcome to all new episode of the Race to the white House.

This week the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths has skyrocketed in the US. According to Johns Hopkins University, the total deaths topped 28,998 and the total number of cases has spiked to 662,045 (as on Friday, the 17th of April).

Let me put this in perspective: a report in The Washington Post says that the number of Americans who died due to the coronavirus pandemic last week is more than five times as many Americans who died in the Second World War. The disease now ranks second in the cause of death in the nation with 12,392 deaths in the past week. Only heart diseases rank more (12,626 deaths a week).

Trump has been talking to the press every day about the coronavirus. As usual, these press briefings are creating a lot of controversy, he is seen as refusing to take the advise of experts and these daily briefings have been dismissed by some as "election propaganda". He believes that the number of cases is reducing and that the nation’s economy can restart by the first week of May. On Thursday, he gave his plan to reopen the economy.

There is more bad news. More than 5 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total to 22 million since the pandemic gripped the US. According to Labour Department’s data which was released on Thursday, 5.25 million initial jobless claims were recorded in the week ending April 11. In the week before that, 6.62 million filed for benefits. The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits jumped by 4.53 million to a record 12 million in the week ended April 4. This puts the unemployment rate at around 17 per cent.

 

Thus, it is no surprise that Trump’s approval rating is stagnating. According to FiveThirtyEight’s poll of polls, 51.4 per cent disapprove of Trump, while 44.3 per cent approve. According to the Reuters/Ispos poll, 25 per cent strongly approve of Trump, while 36 per cent strongly disapprove of him.  According to the poll, a total of 45 per cent among those surveyed approve of Trump, while 51 per cent disapprove of him.

The ratings of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus is dead even at 48 per cent. This is bad, considering that Trump recently signed a $2 trillion aid package. But, he is constantly picking fights with Democratic Governors and the promised $1,200 has not yet reached the people.

When asked who they would vote for if elections are held today, 40 per cent of the registered voters polled said that they would vote for Donald Trump, and this is highest among Republicans (85 per cent ). 45 per cent of those said that would vote for Joe Biden, and most of them are overwhelmingly Democrats (80 per cent), followed by Independents (33 per cent).

But, Trump is crushing in fundraising. He has raised $212 million in the first quarter of 2020. And, with this money, he might just pull through. We already know that Trump does very well on the campaign trail. We know that his campaign is cut throat and we got a taste of this in the week, when his campaign put out the season’s first attack ad. The ad talks about Biden’s son Hunter's alleged corruption, and questions Joe’s soft spot for China.

Last week, I told you that Joe Biden officially became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic party. This week he secured key endorsements from Bernie Sanders, former president Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren. But, Biden's the path to presidency is not clear by any means. He is facing a huge backlash from his own party on three main issues -- his stand on health care, a rape allegation and his inability to win over the youth.

Healthcare is the most important issue for Americans according to the Reuters/Ispos poll, followed by the economy. The coronavirus pandemic has made visible the gaping holes in the US healthcare system and it has effectively brought the economy to a standstill.

Biden, his critics say, does not offer anything new to the table. He has gone on the record multiple times saying that he does not support Medicare for all, and he would veto it if he became president. Some polls report that the working class want the scheme. In his bid to reach out to them, Biden says he would reduce the qualification age of Medicare, a health insurance for senior citizens to 60. Hillary Clinton, the previous Democratic nominee in 2016, said that she would reduce the age to 50!

Biden is also accused of rape by a woman. The incident happened in 1993 the victim reported the incident then, press has  been highly dismissive of the claims. Biden’s critics point out that the woman reached out to the #MeToo movement, but they did not take up the case.

It is worthy to note that Biden’s campaign advisor Anita Dunn, is the managing director of SKDKnickerBocker, the PR firm that works on the behalf of the Time’s Up legal defence fund. Biden’s team has denied allegations.

Critics also point out that Biden is in fact the ‘default candidate’ – he didn't fight hard and was almost out of the race, till the establishment coalesced behind him, just before the big Super Tuesday vote. They also say point out to the fact that other candidates, including, Bernie, did not talk about his track record – Biden has supported the Iraq war, tried to cut welfare programmes and has supported many legislations that had racial undertones. 

In the next week, I’ll get you all the latest on the elections and we’ll also see how the coronavirus is changing the way America votes. Is there any topic you would like to hear on this podcast? Send me a mail at nivedita.v@thehindu.co.in.

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