Trump with Covid-19, Republican campaign in the US worsens

News that President Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19 today aggravates the situation of the Republican Party (GOP) campaign, 32 days before the general elections on November 3.

The report comes at a time when the president, who aspires to re-election, has the lowest levels in terms of voting intentions since the Republican Convention on August 27, according to several opinion polls.

An investigation by the University of Virginia, carried out before the illness of the head of the White House was reported, ensures that a total of 279 votes from the electoral colleges are currently tilted in favor of the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, a figure that exceeds the 270 necessary to succeed in the elections; while some 179 would be under Trump's control.

According to a poll published this Friday by The Washington Post, the Democratic candidate leads his rival by eight percentage points nationally, 51 to 43 percent. Biden's margin is the same in Pennsylvania and lower in other key states: seven points in Wisconsin and Michigan, five in Arizona and one in Florida.

Republicans are still dismayed by Tuesday's debate between the two rivals, and according to The Hill newspaper, increasingly concerned that the president will suffer a crushing defeat and contribute to the red party losing its majority in the Senate.

It's worrying, I think that Trump's polls and his mistakes in the face-to-face with Biden make Senate races harder to win, John Pudner, a veteran GOP campaign agent, leader of the group, told the publication. Take Back Our Republic.

In that context, a new investigation by CNBC after the debate placed Biden's national advantage at 13 points, an overwhelming margin according to the conductors of the survey, published shortly before the announcement that the president tested positive for Covid-19.

The former vice president outpaces his national contender by 10 percentage points (50-40), according to pollster U.S. Qriously, as well as eight points (51-43), according to an investigation by U.S.C. Dornsife and the Los Angeles Times.

Another YouGov poll also gives Biden eight points above Trump (50-42), a similar superiority is given by Rasmussen Report and Pulse Opinion Research to the vice president (51-43).

Also in that territory, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who also wants to keep his seat in the Upper House, is under strong pressure from the campaign of Democrat Jaime Harrison, so the leadership of the Red Party redirected millions of dollars towards that contest.

Meanwhile, Biden took a small lead in the FiveThirtyEight average of polls in Iowa, another territory that makes up the so-called battlefield for the elections, where Senator Joni Ernst tries to stay in office in a tough fight against Democrat Theresa Greenfield.

At 74, even if he remains asymptomatic, Trump will lose much of his remaining time in the electoral campaign, and could raise doubts about whether he should remain on the ballot, according to experts mentioned by various media outlets.

The president reported at dawn Friday that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, contracted Covid-19, due to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which has already caused the death of more than 207 thousand Americans, and caused more than seven million 245 thousand cases in the northern nation.

The revelation, which the Times calls dramatic, was made in a Twitter message shortly before 1 a.m. local time, following reports that Trump's close adviser, Hope Hicks, had tested positive.

For months Trump downplayed the severity of the virus and earlier Thursday night told an audience that 'the end of the pandemic is in sight,' despite the country's health crisis.

Trump and his aides repeatedly violated preventive public health measures and held large campaign rallies in recent months even as health experts repeatedly warned him about the potential for the spread of Covid-19 through such activities.