Trump and Biden run vastly different pandemic campaigns

 rth Carolina caps outdoor garings at 50 people to prevent spread of vel coronavirus, but don't tell that to President Donald Trump. He basked in a largely maskless crowd of several thousand supporters during a Tuesday rally in this critical battleground state.

“As far as eye can see,” Trump said, reveling at sight of people flouting public health guidelines. “I really believe that se crowds are bigger than y were four years ago.”

A day earlier in Pennsylvania, Trump's Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, held a socially distanced meeting in a backyard. His team has been so attentive to local regulations that some staffers have left room if y risked breaking rules on crowd limits.

“I really miss being able to, you kw, grab hands and shake hands," Biden recently told supporters. "You can’t do that w.”

With less than eight weeks until Election Day, Trump and Biden are taking diametrically opposite approaches to campaigning during a pandemic — and differences amount to more than political ater. candidates are effectively staking out different visions for country with Biden emphasizing guidelines supported by local health officials while Trump rails against restrictions that he argues — without evidence — are politically motivated.

“By way, your state should be open,” Trump said in rth Carolina — a state where he has feuded with Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, over his abandoned plans to hold Republican National Convention in Charlotte. “It’s you, it's Michigan, it’s a couple ors,” Trump added, as he sees a potent line of attack in battleground states run by Democrats.

Trump aides and allies suggest president sees his rallies as a manifestation of reopening he’s preaching — and that he believes is vital to nation’s ecomic recovery and what voters want. In a dig at those who warn against reopening too quickly, Trump suggested that se states would suddenly reopen day after election — when opponents advocating caution can longer hurt his reelection.

Outdoor events used to be few and far between for Trump, who prefers deafening echo and air conditioning of indoor arenas. But in wake of a June rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when president addressed a half-empty arena and a promised five-figure overflow crowd never materialized, his campaign decided to move to lower-stakes airport hangars and tarmacs.

one thing that has stayed same: crowing about his crowd sizes in comparison to Biden's.

“If he had 200 people, I think it would be a lot,” Trump said Tuesday of his opponent. “Have you ever seen gyms with circles? That’s his crowd. If he had 200 people.”

Biden’s crowds, in fact, have been far smaller. former vice president has appeared in public only sparingly since pandemic hit — and with strictest adherence to state guidelines: 25 people in Pennsylvania, 50 in Michigan and mandatory face-coverings all around. Biden’s approach reflects reluctance of many of his supporters to attend large garings.

For someone who has never been a natural in an arena, smaller events allow Biden to have more personal interactions with representatives from key voting blocs, like labor and community leaders.

But y also allow him to largely avoid any controversy created by a critical questioner or a protester, both of whom he was forced to grapple with multiple times on campaign trail before pandemic struck.

Even when Biden is confronted with organic crowds of supporters, he’s rarely given opportunity for an unscripted interaction with m.

As Biden gave a speech last week focused on Trump administration’s response to coronavirus at a university building in Pittsburgh, a crowd of more than 100 gared and continued to arrive even as his event wrapped up.

y chanted “We want Joe!” and waved Biden signs, some of m homemade. But, after his speech, Biden remained inside building to attend a virtual fundraiser, n abruptly left to pass out pizzas at a nearby firehouse without approaching supporters.

Three days later, after Biden visited Kesha, Wisconsin, he and his wife, Jill, stopped at home of a supporter in Wauwatosa, a leafy Milwaukee suburb.

With so many people confined to ir homes, presence of Biden’s motorcade on a small street drew more than 200 people out onto ir porches or street. Bidens spent more than half an hour meeting in a quiet back patio with two teachers and a parent concerned about how to resume in-person learning during pandemic.

crowd cheered and chanted “Go Joe!,” but private meeting ran so long that Biden only interacted with m for less than a minute. As he was leaving, he walked to middle of street and n, surrounded by Secret Service nts, bellowed, “Don’t forget to vote!”

Earlier this week, however, Biden took a moment after an event focused on labor leaders at a supporter’s house in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to greet a crowd of about two dozen supporters that had assembled across street. Flanked by Secret Service nts, Biden said a few words to crowd about his belief that Americans can do anything when y’re unified and about need to vote, n spoke briefly to reporters and departed.

Later that day, Biden waved at a crowd of about 100 from window of AFL-CIO Pennsylvania headquarters, but declined to come any nearer after leaving building.