The Coronavirus, once it really took hold in the US, gave Trump the best opportunity to secure reelection.... Nothing else before matters now, because we've never seen anything like this , certainly not in our lifetimes. His affinity for Russia doesnt matter, his haphazard feud with China doesnt matter, his alienation of Euro allies doesnt matter, not even the Ukraine story matters anymore. The number one issue that historically has decided if a president gets another term is economic performance, which the Coronavirus absolutely put on life support.
But here's the thing: When the Coronavirus put the economy on lockdown, it made the response to eliminating the coronavirus the single most important issue in America. Success would be curtailing the virus and reopening the economy, Defeat would be fucking it up and causing lots of deaths while the economy sputters. Trumps entire struggle of winning re-election has been effectively reduced to a test where there is only 1 question and the two answers that can be picked are basically true/false. For one option, practice social distancing and have states issue stay-at-home orders to limit the spread of the virus hard. The other option, fuck about and risk letting the virus spread further and faster just so things can stay sort of normal.
Despite the easy decision, Trumps's supporters are actively fucking Trump out of being able to select the correct choice, risking his chances of being able to win reelection.
Support for Stay-At-Home orders is very high across the country. 81% support a NATIONAL stay at home order while only 17% do not:
68% of Republicans also SUPPORT a national stay at home order according to the same poll (Independents 80%, Dems 95%) Voters across all political ideologies are giving the administration a free pass to shut down the economy in order to defeat the virus. The President's own party, the GOP, favor shutting down everything just to defeat the virus, at 2 to 1 support as well!!!
Only the dumbest faction of the GOP are against the idea of a national stay-at-home order, yet they're the ones who are pushing governors to reopen the country. Because they thing shutting down the economy makes Trump look bad, or because they believe some dipshit conspiracy theory that the coronavirus is not meant to be taken seriously, this retarded 1/3rd of the GOP base is pushing governors to end stay-at-home orders. Governors have in some cases buckled under the pressure and allowed reopenings, and its seriously damaging to the GOP..... Below is a link showing the approval rating of governors in states hit hard by the coronavirus.
DEM governors who are in states that are safely Dem in elections is not important. GOP governors in states that are safely GOP in elections are also not important either.....What is important though are the following:
1 - Swing states with DEM governors have shown an increase in support for the DEM Governor
2 - Swing states with a GOP governor have shown an increase in support for the Governor when that governor goes against Trump and sticks with social distancing
3 - Swing states with a GOP governor have shown a DECREASE in support for the Governor when that governor sticks with Trump and allows economic reopenings.
In Ohio, Republican Mike DeWine was one of the first Govs to lockdown the state, close schools, and basically shutdown everything when Trump was downplaying the threat of the virus. DeWine's popularity has soared as a result, from 49% to 80% even though he was a republican who broke with Trump.
In Michigan and Wisconsin, states with Dem governors that Trump won, Governor Evers (Wisconsin) and Governor Whitmer (Michigan) went hard with lockdowns and school closings even though they govern swing states that broke for Trump in 2016. By going sharply against Trump in their Coronavirus handling, their approval ratings within their states have risen from about 43% to about 66%
But if you look at Florida and Georgia, which are Red to Purple states with Republican Governors who stuck with Trump. The approval rating of governors have shit the bed. DeSantis of Florida has lost 7 points to go from 58% to 51%, while Kemp of Georgia is even lower at only 43% approval.
https://www.ajc.com/blog/politics/internal-gop-poll-points-troubling-signs-for-georgia-republicans/hb6wfmQ7sQSkuHKXiipZdN/
Kemp is exceptional because he went with what Trump recommended so hard that it forced Trump himself to tell Kemp he is going too far!
Kemp is exceptional because he went with what Trump recommended so hard that it forced Trump himself to tell Kemp he is going too far!
The implications of this are pretty clear. In states where Governors have gone against Trump's outlines for what states should do, Governors have risen sharply in popularity. Republican Governors who go against Trump have risen in popularity, Republican Governors who follow Trump have lost support. Many of these shifts are in incredibly important states that will decide the 2020 election..... Michigan and Wisconsin are heavily supporting their Dem Governor, while Florida and Georgia are barely 50-50 on their GOP Governor. Only in Ohio has a GOP governor in a swing state rose in popularity, and he did so by going AGAINST Trump.....
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TLDR: This should have been an easy decision.... Once the early opportunities were missed and the Coronavirus became a global pandemic, this still should have been an easy decision. Lockdown everything to defeat the virus, or fuck around and keep things as normal as justifiable. 81% OF VOTERS HAVE GIVEN A FREE PASS TO LOCKDOWN THE COUNTRY AND CRASH THE ECONOMY, they UNDERSTAND the threat and that it has to be defeated at any cost..... The outcomes of these two choices are in favor of Trump as well if he picks the right decision..... If the virus is defeated or curtailed even if the economy takes a hit, voters are fine with that and would probably hand Trump re-election. If the virus is not defeated and these last few months were essentially wasted, Trump will lose reelection........ Yet even then despite such an EASY ASS DECISION, a fraction of GOP voters, the slim minority that are outnumbered by reasonable and sensible Republicans 2 to 1, the slim faction of the party who are as loudly vocal as they are immensely retarded, are pushing Trump and the GOP to keep the economy open and risk letting the disease fuck around, and Trump is listening to them. Because Trump is listening, the GOP 90% of the time is forced to listen as well, and those who are caving have seen their popularity in swing states plummet.
Trump is at risk of losing reelection because of his own retarded supporters. Not all of his supporters are retarded, a good majority of them are not and correctly understand that things should be locked down until there is full control over the virus. But because Trump is instead listening to the loud retarded minority of GOP supporters, his party is losing influence in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in Florida, in Pennsylvania, and in Georgia. To make things even worse, the Republican Governor in Ohio is doing well preserving his job going into 2020, but he has done this by going against what Trump recommends, which does not bode well for Trump's odds in Ohio for 2020. Many of these states were ones that Trump barely carried in 2016 when he won the election, making any loss of support almost catastrophic to his chances of winning in 2020. He is losing ground in nearly all of them, and the loud minority of dipshits in the GOP base are the reason why. They are pushing Trump to reopen the economy on the basis of liberty and freedom, which will only fuck Trump and a chunk of the GOP out of power in 2020.
Trump is at risk of losing reelection because of his own retarded supporters. Not all of his supporters are retarded, a good majority of them are not and correctly understand that things should be locked down until there is full control over the virus. But because Trump is instead listening to the loud retarded minority of GOP supporters, his party is losing influence in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in Florida, in Pennsylvania, and in Georgia. To make things even worse, the Republican Governor in Ohio is doing well preserving his job going into 2020, but he has done this by going against what Trump recommends, which does not bode well for Trump's odds in Ohio for 2020. Many of these states were ones that Trump barely carried in 2016 when he won the election, making any loss of support almost catastrophic to his chances of winning in 2020. He is losing ground in nearly all of them, and the loud minority of dipshits in the GOP base are the reason why. They are pushing Trump to reopen the economy on the basis of liberty and freedom, which will only fuck Trump and a chunk of the GOP out of power in 2020.