Trump campaigns on despite surge in virus cases

Critics say he has put re-election above the health of supporters

US President Donald Trump at a rally at Goodyear Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday. The pandemic that has upended life across the US, killing more than 227,000 people, is roaring back in the days leading up to next Tuesday's contest between t
US President Donald Trump at a rally at Goodyear Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, on Oct 28, 2020. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

BULLHEAD CITY (Arizona) • With less than a week before election day, US President Donald Trump held in-person campaign rallies in Arizona on Wednesday despite a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country and criticism that he is prioritising his re-election above the health of his supporters.

The pandemic that has upended life across the US, killing more than 227,000 people, is roaring back in the days leading up to next Tuesday's contest between Republican President Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Mr Biden holds a comfortable lead in national polls, which show a public increasingly dismayed by Mr Trump's handling of the largest public health crisis in US living memory.

Polls in battleground states that will likely decide the election are tighter than the national surveys.

At a campaign rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, Mr Trump said again that a vaccine would be available soon. "If I weren't president, if you had Sleepy Joe as your president, it would have taken you four years to have a vaccine. You would have never had a vaccine," said Mr Trump.

A number of drugmakers are competing to bring a coronavirus vaccine to market, but one is not expected to be ready before next week's election. A Trump adviser said the rallies were "priceless", given Mr Biden's dominance on the advertising airwaves.

"These rallies generate significant free media coverage that helps offset whatever money advantage Biden has. Fox News basically runs the whole rallies. It's a great asset," the adviser said.

Mr Biden raised about US$130 million (S$177.5 million) during the Oct 1-14 period, about three times the approximately US$44 million raised by Mr Trump's campaign, according to disclosures filed last Thursday with the Federal Election Commission.

The adviser said Mr Trump was typically holding rallies in parts of the country where masks are not often worn and people are less concerned about the ill effects of Covid-19.

"If you overlay the rallies on a map, you would see they typically run along the same lines of the divide over Covid-19. So, really, there's only upside."

However, political analyst Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia's Centre for Politics said the rallies could backfire. "More exposure doesn't necessarily lead to more votes, and I wonder if some on the fence might be turned off by the total disregard for Covid-19 protocols," he said.

A pro-Biden group, Priorities USA Action, said its recent polling in six battleground states found that when people were told Mr Trump was holding large rallies without mask-wearing requirements, most disapproved.

Mr Biden has slammed what he called the Trump administration's disregard for safety and failure to develop a plan to contain Covid-19.

Polls show Americans trust Mr Biden more than Mr Trump to contain the virus.

"The longer he's in charge the more reckless he gets," Mr Biden told reporters, before casting his own vote in Wilmington, Delaware.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 30, 2020, with the headline Trump campaigns on despite surge in virus cases. Subscribe