Over the course of the summer, Trump went from acknowledging that the pandemic may “get worse before it gets better” to declaring that the US is “rounding the corner” on the crisis.
Then he tested positive for the virus himself.
The pandemic remains the biggest obstacle for his reelection hopes, and his bout with the virus just weeks before Election Day only brightened the spotlight on the issue.
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Roughly seven in 10 Americans think the nation is on the wrong track, and just 39 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the crisis that has killed more than 207,000 people in the US, according to a recent poll The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Congress approved about $3 trillion in coronavirus relief in March and April, and Democrats and the White House have been at loggerheads over another significant round of funding, with Trump sending mixed messages on what he wants.
President Donald Trump has largely placed responsibility with governors for leading the response.
Biden draws some of his sharpest contrasts with Trump on the pandemic, arguing that the presidency and federal government exist for such crises and that Trump has been an abject failure responsible for tens of thousands of preventable deaths.
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Biden endorses generous federal spending to help businesses and individuals, along with state and local governments.