Trump, Biden rally in Florida, showing off contrasting styles

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden rallied supporters on Thursday in the closely fought state of Florida, highlighting their contrasting approaches to the resurgent coronavirus pandemic as the clock ticks down to Election Day.

Opinion polls show Biden with a significant edge nationally, but with a tighter lead in the battleground states that play a decisive role in the final result.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed Trump had essentially moved into a tie with Biden in Florida, with 49 percent saying they would vote for Biden and 47 percent for the president.

With its 29 electoral votes, the state is a major prize in next Tuesday's election. Trump's victory in Florida in 2016 was vital to his surprise election win.

Thousands of people, many of them without masks, crowded together at an outdoor event in Tampa on Thursday to hear

Trump mock his opponent, the former vice president.

"Could you imagine losing to this guy? Could you imagine?" Trump said, adding he was confident of winning a second term.

Biden, in contrast, held a drive-in rally later at a college in Broward County, north of Miami, where attendees remained in their cars to avoid possible spread of the disease. "Donald Trump has given up" on fighting Covid-19, said Biden.

With an eye on the important Latino vote in Florida, the Democrat pushed back on a Republican argument that Trump would be tougher on the left-wing governments in Cuba and Venezuela.

"President Trump can’t advance democracy and human

rights for the Cuban people and the Venezuelan people when he has embraced dictators around the world," Biden said. Many of South Florida's Latinos or their relatives fled Cuba or Venezuela.

The pandemic that has upended life across the United States, killed more than 227, 000 people and caused millions of job losses, is roaring back.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the threat of the pandemic, saying this week his opponents and the news media would stop paying attention to it right after the election, even as leaders in Europe scramble to contain a second wave and public health experts predict a grim winter in the United States. – REUTERS.