New York Times: “Mr. Biden has been confined over the last week to an unusually small role for the likely — though not yet completely certain — nominee of a major political party. His public comments have been sparing and, for the most part, restrained. He is now ramping up a public schedule, beginning with an appearance on ABC’s The View on Tuesday, and his aides said he would offer remarks on camera in some fashion each day.”
“But Democratic strategists, some state officials and even some of his own aides have said that Mr. Biden needs to be more visible at a time when Americans are looking for leadership. The challenge for Mr. Biden, they say, is to find ways to draw sharp contrasts in leadership style with Mr. Trump while showing sensitivity to the severity of the crisis, and to break through when the nation is focused on more immediate concerns than November’s election.”
“One of the Democratic Party’s main 2020 super PACs is attacking President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak with new TV ad airing in four key swing states,” Politico reports.
“At the end of the ad, footage plays of Trump saying, during a Rose Garden press conference at the White House, ‘I don’t take responsibility at all.’”
“The ad marks a new front in the political battle over government response to the coronavirus.”
A new Monmouth poll finds Joe Biden holds a negligible 3 point lead over Donald Trump in the race for president, 48% to 45%.
But this is the key takeaway: “In approximately 300 swing counties where the margin of victory was less than ten points for either candidate – accounting for about one-fifth of the total U.S. electorate – 50% back Biden compared with 41% who support Trump. In 2016, Clinton won the cumulative vote in these counties by a single percentage point.”
Said pollster Patrick Murray: “The race looks tight right now between Trump and the probable Democratic nominee. But as we learned in 2016, the outcome will be determined by the Electoral College rather than the national popular vote. The poll results suggest Biden may actually be starting out with an advantage in crucial swing areas of the country.”
A new Gallup poll finds 49% of U.S. adults, up from 44% earlier this month, approve of the job President Trump is doing.
A new CBS News poll finds 57% of Americans say the nation’s efforts to combat the coronavirus are going badly right now, most call it a crisis and see a months-long process before it is contained.
But this is curious: 53% say President Trump is doing a good job handling the outbreak, and 54% are optimistic about his administration’s ability to handle it from here, though 66% also feel the Trump administration was not prepared to deal with it when it started.
But as David Hopkins notes, it’s far too early to suggest Trump is actually benefiting politically from the public health crisis gripping the country.
“Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to participate in the Democratic presidential debate in April if one is held, his campaign said on Tuesday, the strongest indication yet that he plans to continue competing against Joe Biden in the 2020 primary for the foreseeable future,” the New York Times reports.
“The Democratic National Committee has said previously that there would be a debate in April, but one has not been scheduled.”
New York Times: “One person with knowledge of the discussions said Monday that ‘intensive scenario-planning’ was taking place among officials from the Democratic National Committee, the convention committee and the Milwaukee host committee, who were all determining what to do about the convention, which is scheduled for July 13 to July 16 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.”
“Among the complicating factors are the uncertain nature of the professional basketball season — the arena hosting the convention is home to the Milwaukee Bucks, a top N.B.A. team likely to play deep into the playoffs if the league’s season were to restart — and how the party’s delegates will be selected. Delegates in most states are elected to the national convention from state conventions, but many state conventions, scheduled for late spring and early summer, are also being postponed.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey in North Carolina finds that a majority think Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) should resign, 50% to 24%, and that his approval numbers have plummeted since revelations last week about his stock sales in the wake of the coronavirus.
Also interesting: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) isn’t in very good standing with North Carolinians either: 26% approve of the job he’s doing to 47% who disapprove.
“Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday that all of Georgia’s 6.9 million active voters will be mailed absentee ballot request forms for the May 19 primary, a major push to encourage voting by mail during the coronavirus pandemic,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“The absentee voting effort will allow Georgians to decide on their choices for president and other elected offices from home, without having to visit in-person voting locations where the coronavirus could more easily spread. Early voting and election day precincts will remain open.”
CNBC reports business leaders are pushing the following women as Joe Biden’s running mate: Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Rep. Val Demings.
Notably absent from the names mentioned is Stacey Abrams.
Harry Enten: “Trump is the first incumbent president to be trailing at this point in the general election cycle (i.e. late March in the election year) since Harry Truman in 1948.”
Zachary Wolf: “Remember impeachment? Me either.”
“There’s a worldwide pandemic and many Americans are confined to their homes as the US government tries to halt the spread of Covid-19.”
“So come November, despite being the first impeached President to appear on a presidential ballot afterward, Donald Trump will likely be judged by one thing: His response to the coronavirus.”
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