Published 11:40 IST, October 19th 2020
US polls: Trump set to host rallies in battleground states amid COVID-19 resurgence
Amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and elections being little more than two weeks away, Donald Trump has embarked on a tour of the battleground states.
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Amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and US Elections being little more than two weeks away, US President Donald Trump has embarked on a tour of the battleground states to make his case stronger for his reelection. As per the government figures, the daily cases are averaging above 55,000 and numbers rising in more than 40 states including the ones that Trump has to win to pursue his second term in the office.
However, his rival Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden is leading almost all national polls by double digits mostly because of substantial deficit in the approval of Trump’s handling of COVID-19 pandemic. With such challenges in hand, the Republican leader is continuing to host large rallies with less number of supporters wearing masks or maintaining social distancing. As per reports, on October 18 he was in Nevada and attended church in Las Vegas. This week, Trump is set to address rallies in Arizona on October 19, Pennsylvania on October 20, North Carolina on October 21.
Trump: ‘Not a shutdown believer’
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Wisconsin radio station, US President was asked about the kind of message being sent by hosting packed rallies of maskless supporters. To this, Trump replied that he is “not a big shutdown believer” and he doesn’t think any wrong example is being set. He even cited the example of Wisconsin and said, “they’ve been shut down and they’ve been locked down and locked up and, you know, they’ve been doing it for a long time.” In 2016, Trump won in Wisconsin by reportedly just one vote.
Earlier, a Janesville rally on October 17, Trump was seen reiterating that the battle against COVID-19 is being won by the United States. He even took to Twitter again presenting his old argument of US reporting a higher number of novel coronavirus infections because of the number of tests being carried out. Claiming that no other nation in the world is testing at the level of the US, US President took a dig on “lamestream fake” media for ‘pouncing’ on the number of daily cases.
The United States shows more CASES than other countries, which the Lamestream Fake News Media pounces on daily, because it TESTS at such a high (and costly) level. No country in the world tests at this level. The more you TEST, the more CASES you will be reporting. Very simple!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2020
Image: AP
11:41 IST, October 19th 2020