Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, has made it clear that – if elected – his approach to COVID and the federal government’s role would be vastly different from President Trump’s position of letting states take a tailored approach.
The New York Times reported that Biden’s plan “echoes” Franklin D. Roosevelt’s big-government approach and pointed out how Biden would create a 100,000-person “public health jobs corps” that would be tasked with contact tracing. The paper pointed out that Biden told the New Yorker he is “kind of in the position that F.D.R. was.” He told the magazine that the country’s 32nd president acted in a practical manner and was not guided by ideology.
The paper reported that Trump has seen some of Biden’s stances on the virus as a political liability. Biden seemed to oscillate between enforcing a nationwide mask mandate and just encouraging their use. The Times reported that Biden’s latest position was he hoped for a nationwide mask mandate, but he was unclear on the legality of an executive order.
“All level with the American people, I’ll take responsibility and I’ll support, rather than tear down, the experts responsible for the day-to-day execution of the plan. I’ll simply follow the science,” Biden said.
Trump has been accused by his detractors as turning the country’s health officials into political adversaries. He most recently criticized the country’s top disease expert for initially telling Americans they do not need to wear masks.
“Tony. Tony Fauci. He’s a nice guy,” Trump told an audience in North Carolina last week. The Independent reported the president mocked Fauci: “This is not a threat. This is not a problem. Don’t worry about it.”
“Then he said, ‘Do not wear a mask under any circumstances. Don’t wear a mask – don’t, don’t. don’t,’” Trump said. “So we don’t wear a mask. Then they say, ‘Wear a mask.’”
On Sunday, it was reported by The New York Times that Trump said, “People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong… This guy’s a disaster.”
President Trump has also criticized Biden over his comments about listening to “the scientists” if they recommended shutting down the economy. The paper reported Trump said Americans “must have their freedoms.”
TREND FORECAST: As we have previously forecast, and the covers of the Trends Journal illustrate, the underlying theme of the 2020 Presidential Reality Show® is “It’s the economy, stupid!”
Throughout the race for the White House, there has hardly been a whisper about foreign policy or other key, critical issues.
Rather, it has been between “Open the Economy Up vs. Lock It Down,” and “Masks vs. No Masks.” Considering the lopsided press and the establishment polls, which strongly favor Joe Biden over President Trump, the general consensus is a Biden win.
However, aside from his vocal core supporters which will turn out en masse, we forecast there is a strong silent majority who favors opening up the economy, especially in critical swing states, which could lead President Trump to victory. At this juncture, minus a wild card, we forecast a Trump victory.
In addition, the support for Biden is more of “anybody but Trump” and not because of his platform or personality, thus, we forecast a low young-voter turnout for the former Vice President.
