Trump’s last stand in Biden’s home town
Former president and vice-president present united front to boost supporter turnout
DONALD TRUMP will hold an eve-ofelection rally in Joe Biden’s childhood home town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the end of a bitter and combative campaign expected to drive turnout to a record-breaking high.
The US president is likely to repeat claims that Mr Biden, the Democratic nominee who left the city as a child when his family moved to Delaware, has “abandoned” the people of Pennsylvania, a critical swing state in the election.
The rally on Monday is one of 14 announced by the Trump campaign for the final three days of the race. Mr Biden meanwhile will appear with Barack
Obama, the former US president, for joint speeches for the first time this campaign today.
As the candidates criss-crossed the battleground states yesterday an unprecedented 82 million people had already voted through either early inperson voting or mail-in ballots. Texas and Hawaii’s 2020 vote totals already exceed 2016. The numbers, a reflection of both changed voting patterns during the pandemic and high enthusiasm on both sides, has election experts predicting as many as 150 million Americans could vote for the next president. That would eclipse the record of almost 136 million in 2016.
Mr Biden enjoys a clear lead in opinion polls nationwide of about eight percentage points and is ahead in most key battleground states, albeit by narrower margins. But Mr Trump and his campaign believe the polls do not reflect the true level of his support, predicting a big on-the- day turnout on Tuesday. “Watch the Great Red Wave!” the president tweeted.
As election day nears America is gripped in a third surge of coronavirus infections, with daily case counts reaching record high levels in recent days.
The numbers have created new uncertainty about how the pandemic will impact voter patterns.
JOE BIDEN will be joined by Barack Obama, the former president under whom he served as vice-president for eight years, for joint speeches today in a campaign first.
The Democratic presidential nominee will appear together with his old boss at an event in Flint, Michigan, where the audience will be in cars at a “drive-in” rally.
The united front from the two men who shared the White House for eight years comes as they seek to boost turnout among supporters and woo the few remaining undecided voters.
Mr Trump will counter the event with no fewer than four rallies in Pennsylvania, one of the most critical swing states that could determine the outcome.
“Donald Trump has given up,” Mr Biden told a crowd of honking cars gathered at Iowa State Fairgrounds yesterday. “Unlike Donald Trump, we will not surrender to the virus.”
Mr Trump, addressing a much larger crowd in Michigan, which was not socially distanced, tried to rally supporters against his rival’s downbeat forecast on the Covid-19 spread.
“Just what our country needs is a long dark winter and a leader who talks about it,” the president said, to boos.
This campaign was upended in the spring when the Covid-19 outbreak hit America, sending the country into lockdown and the economy spiralling, and the candidates’ differing approaches have been front and centre.
Around 9 million positive tests have been logged in the country and almost 230,000 people have died from Covid19. Around 90,000 new cases of the virus were reported on Thursday, well above the summer high of 75,000.
Mr Trump has bemoaned the media’s focus on “Covid, Covid, Covid”, warned Mr Biden will adopt an “unscientific” lockdown that will crash the economy and pledged that if he wins a second term he will steer America back to “normal”.
The messages have been delivered in his trademark rallies, now held outside to minimise the risk of infection, but which nonetheless see crowds packed together without social distancing. Face masks are available but not obligated.
Mr Biden’s campaign and messaging is a stark contrast. He has vowed to listen to scientists, encourage state and local officials to mandate the wearing of masks and hammered Mr Trump for not
‘Donald Trump has given up. Unlike Donald Trump, we will not surrender to the virus’
taking the threat of the virus seriously enough.
His events reflect that point. Attendees are kept to a few dozen, often local political figures. They sit in seats positioned 6ft apart or in cars at “drive-in” rallies. Mr Trump has ridiculed the events, claiming the format has been adopted because his rival cannot draw big crowds.
Polls have consistently shown that most Americans disapprove of Mr Trump’s handling of the pandemic. Whether that proves to be true among those who cast a vote could well determine the president’s fate.
Character has been put at the centre of the election. Mr Biden, who lost a wife and daughter in a car crash and later his oldest son to cancer, has projected himself as a politician who can understand the pain many Americans are feeling during the pandemic.
Mr Trump has reprised his role as the political outsider, despite sitting in the Oval Office, vowing to still represent forgotten Americans. “If I don’t always sound like a typical Washington politician it’s because I’m not,” he said this week.
The issue of the economy remains perhaps the president’s greatest electoral strength.
Despite the historic spike in unemployment – more than 50 million Americans filed for unemployment after
Covid-19 struck – he remains more trusted than Mr Biden to lead a recovery.
Figures released this week showed that after the American economy had its worst quarter on record in Q2 it had its best in Q3, July to September, when an annual growth rate of 33 per cent was seen. The news helps Mr Trump argue that the “great American comeback” is on.
Turnout is key and could show which side is more fired up to get to the polls: those who want to kick Mr Trump out of office or those who want to hand him a second term. The indications are that both sides are fired up.
The early vote counts are defying precedent. More people in two states, Texas and Hawaii, have already voted in this election than did in 2016.
Other states are close to reaching that point, with just days still left for voters to cast their ballots.
With Tuesday almost here, all eyes are on two critical swing states – Pennsylvania and Florida – which, given the electoral college system, are of heightened importance considering the sizeable electoral votes up for grabs. Mr Trump won both last time but polls show him behind.
But for anyone thinking Tuesday is the finish line, election officials have cautioned otherwise. Given that postal ballots tend to take longer to count it could be days not hours until some states are called.