'It's not about you': Democrats bet Trump coronavirus response a 2020
winner for Biden
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[April 28, 2020]
By Trevor Hunnicutt
(Reuters) - Joe Biden's U.S. presidential
campaign and his Democratic Party allies have gone on an all-out
offensive against President Donald Trump's coronavirus response, betting
it will be a winning issue with American voters in November.
Just weeks ago, Democrats were treading carefully as Trump commanded the
spotlight with his daily briefings on the virus, hesitant to avoid
looking too partisan as the pandemic took its toll on jobs and health.
Now Democrats believe weeks of Trump's unfiltered media performances
have done more harm than good for the Republican president seeking
re-election on Nov. 3, and their aggressive response aims to expose what
they see as his faulty handling of the crisis.
Biden's campaign team talking points accuse Trump of "one of the worst
policy mistakes any president has made in our history." New campaign ads
in battleground states say Trump failed to act on the coronavirus, which
has now infected more than 977,500 Americans and killed more than
55,000, and call him overly trusting of China during the pandemic.
"This has given us an issue that is unifying across all walks of life,"
said Bradley Beychok, president of American Bridge 21st Century, a
Democratic group funding some of the ads. "Trump's superpower is
distraction. You can't distract from this."
More registered voters say they would support Biden, the presumptive
Democratic nominee, over Trump, favoring the Democrat 47% to Trump's 39%
in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week. Biden's lead has widened
even as the coronavirus has forced him to isolate himself from the virus
in his Delaware home, holding little-noticed briefings.
But voters are more closely split when polled on the health crisis.
Reuters/Ipsos polling found that 52% of Americans said Biden was better
equipped to steer the coronavirus response, while 48% favored Trump.
Trump, however, had an edge of 53% to Biden's 47% as the better leader
to manage the U.S. economy.
Trump saw only a brief uptick in his overall approval rating early in
the crisis, and some of his advisers have been alarmed by his
undisciplined televised briefings.
Internal polling by the pro-Biden outside political group Priorities USA
showed that, while the country remains deeply divided along partisan
lines, there are signs that more people find fault with Trump's crisis
management after earlier seeing his White House briefings as a show of
his command of the issue.
"Initially the press conferences they were doing might have been
benefiting the president because the consequences of his actions weren't
clear and present," said Guy Cecil, chairman of Priorities. "Fast
forward a month later, and you're now past 50,000 dead.
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Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe
Biden speaks during the 11th Democratic candidates debate of the
2020 U.S. presidential campaign, held in CNN's Washington studios
without an audience because of the global coronavirus pandemic, in
Washington, U.S., March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
MORE FORCEFUL TACTICS
Biden's deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield has urged the more
forceful tactics to counter Trump's message. She sent a memo last week
to supporters outlining four Cs to use as points of attack: Trump's
coziness with the Chinese government, cover-up of the crisis, chaos in
responding, and corporate favoritism in how stimulus money was
distributed.
The campaign also ramped up its Facebook and Google ads, spending
more than Trump did during the week of April 12-18, according to
Acronym, a liberal nonprofit group.
A Biden campaign video released on Friday shows Trump at a recent
briefing saying, "nobody wants to take care of me," while statistics
flash about the rising U.S. death toll and unemployment claims
surpassing 26 million.
"Mr. President, it's not about you," the ad concludes. "It's about
America."
"We are witnessing one of the worst failures of leadership by a
president in our country's history, and that's the only thing that
will be on voters' minds this fall," Biden campaign spokesman TJ
Ducklo said of the new approach.
Trump allies recently launched their own videos criticizing Biden's
favorable comments about China and touting Trump's travel
restrictions on the country.
"The President is boldly leading the nation in the war against the
coronavirus while Joe Biden is snipping from the sidelines," Ken
Farnaso, a Trump campaign spokesman, said in an emailed statement.
"Biden is attempting to undermine the Administration's unifying
response, instilling fear with his message of uncertainty."
Some Democrats remain worried about criticizing a sitting president
in a time of crisis. They see an advantage in Biden maintaining a
statesman's role while his supporters go in for the kill.
That quality helped the former vice president make it through the
Democratic primary race without alienating too many voters. His
opponents later endorsed him.
Others are eager for a tougher approach.
"Trump, who has bet his campaign on the economy, is uniquely
vulnerable," said Jim Manley, a longtime adviser to Democrats,
including former U.S. Senator Harry Reid, a Biden ally. "If the
elections were held today, it's pretty obvious that the president
would lose. The problem is the elections aren't today. Democrats
should be pressing him harder."
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Additional reporting by
Chris Kahn; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller)
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