US election: Economic boost for Donald Trump as he and Joe Biden dash to the finish line

Joe Biden Campaigns For President In Florida
Downpour: Democrat Joe Biden leaves the stage in Tampa, where rain forced him to cut short a rally
Getty Images
David Gardner30 October 2020

Donald Trump and Joe Biden were set to barnstorm across America’s heartland today — as the president pinned his hopes on a rebounding economy to boost his chances of re-election.  

The rivals were campaigning against a grim backdrop as the US coronavirus epidemic reached new highs.

A record 90,000 new cases were recorded across the country yesterday — the equivalent of more than one per second — with states in the Midwest among those worst hit.

Behind in the polls and fighting a rearguard battle over his handling of the virus, Mr Trump believes he can turn the tide in some of the swing states that paved his way to a shock victory four years ago.

Fuelled by figures showing a bump in the economy, the Republican president was campaigning today in Minnesota, as well as Wisconsin and Michigan — two traditionally Democrat states that defected to Mr Trump in 2016.  

Mr Biden was going to be in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa and will be joined by former President Barack Obama at a rally tomorrow in Michigan.

The new wave of infections dominated appearances by both candidates in Florida, another key state, yesterday.

In Tampa, Mr Trump repeated claims that his Democrat challenger was planning “punishing lockdowns”. “He’s going to lock you down,” the president warned as he hailed federal figures showing the US economy rebounded with a 33.1 per cent annual rate in the last quarter, after shrinking 31 per cent over the previous three months.

He told supporters, many without masks, that America’s handling of Covid-19 compared favourably with Europe. “Look, we were compared to Europe, ‘Germany is doing so well, France is doing so well, everyone’s doing so well.’ No, they’re not doing well,” he said. 

“They’re spiking up big, they’re shutting down, they’re locking down. I disagree with that because we’re never going to lock down again. We locked down, we understood the disease and now we’re open for business.” He added: “It’s rounding the turn. It’s rounding the turn.”

We’re never going to lock down again. We locked down, we understood the disease, and now we’re open

Donald Trump

In her second campaign appearance this week, First Lady Melania Trump said: “We are a country of hope, not a country of fear or weakness, and we have a leader who shows us that every single day.”

Addressing a smaller, mask-wearing crowd outside Miami, Mr Biden insisted he was not planning a national lockdown and depicted Trump rallies as “superspreader” events. Calling for a new law to make masks mandatory, he said: “This is not a political statement, it’s a patriotic duty, for God’s sake.”

Donald Trump
Donald and Melania Trump in Tampa
AP

“Look, everybody knows who Donald Trump is,” he added. “We got to show him who we are.”

Mr Biden claimed that if Florida votes for him “it’s over” for Mr Trump.

The former vice president was later forced to cut short a rally in Tampa amid a downpour of rain, while heavy wind wrecked Mr Trump’s plans to hold an evening rally in North Carolina.  

Despite the pandemic, experts are predicting the highest turnout for a White House vote in more than a century. Latest figures show 81 million people have already voted, more than half the total of votes counted in 2016.

Meanwhile, celebrities including singers Billie Eilish, Chris Martin and Shawn Mendes took part in a bipartisan televised appeal to encourage people to vote. Eilish, 18, said she will be casting her ballot for the first time, adding: “If you care about yourself, your family and your friends, and our future, vote.”