Trump limits rambling to cut Biden poll gap
DONALD TRUMP’S rambling speeches attacking opponents and angrily deflecting criticism could become more rare as he appeared to sharply change his rhetoric with 100 days to go until the election.
The US president has markedly changed his tone over the past week in an effort to claw back a growing chasm between him and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, analysts believe. One told The Sunday Tele
graph it was a “necessary recalibration” if the president was to “stand any chance” of catching up with this rival.
The sharpest changes from Mr Trump are related to his response to Covid-19. After downplaying the threat, he has now tweeted a photograph of himself wearing a face mask, restarted daily briefings, cancelled his party convention speech in Florida and said he was “imploring young Americans to avoid packed bars”.
With just over three months to go before voting day, Mr Trump trails Mr Biden by about nine points in nationwide polls.
Sam Nunberg, a former adviser to Mr Trump who spent five years with him before the 2016 election, said: “As someone who supports President Trump’s re-elect, this recalibration was super necessary if the president was going to stand any chance.
“It was quite clear that he was losing support among demographics that he won astronomically in 2016.”
Mr Nunberg said that Mr Trump’s “overly rosy and optimistic tone” at the start of the coronavirus outbreak could have been interpreted as “nonchalance” by some voters.
He added: “If the voters were giving Joe Biden a 20-point edge at handling Covid better than the president, then he was looking at a blowout.”