President Donald Trump for months has stubbornly tried to change the subject, hoping to make his bid for reelection focused on anything but coronavirus.
Those efforts – always a long shot – have now been dashed, as he spends the weekend hospitalized with the virus even as more voters are casting their ballots across the country with every passing day.
“I prayed for him. I hope he recovers. I hope his family recovers, but he has been denying the whole science behind coronavirus,” said Denise Hardaway, who voted here in Michigan on Friday. “I hope this changes his administration’s thinking and he realizes and understands the importance of this pandemic that we are in.”
She stepped out of her car into the afternoon sunshine and deposited her sealed ballot in a drop box outside Troy City Hall, finally delivering her judgment on a caustic presidential campaign. She said she supported Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, in part, because of what she believes has been Trump’s mishandling of coronavirus, for which he’s now tested positive.
“He’s been misleading his constituency, going around without a mask and telling people that you don’t need a mask,” Hardaway said. “I pray this is an awakening and he begins to realize that this is serious and he’s putting the lives of so many of us at risk.”
Here in Michigan, along with a majority of states across the nation, every day for the next month is Election Day. A steady stream of voters are delivering their ballots, even as the pandemic is at the forefront in the final stretch of the campaign.
At a campaign stop on Friday in Grand Rapids, Biden also wished Trump well. His campaign pulled its attack ads against the President off television – a gesture not reciprocated by the Trump campaign.
“This is not a matter of politics,” said Biden, who noted that he twice tested negative for Covid-19 on Friday. “It’s a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously.”
The President’s diagnosis not only upended his weekend plans, which had included holding campaign rallies in key swing states one month before election season ends, it also was front-and-center in people’s minds as they cast their ballots.
“I hope it turns out right for him, but he’s kind of been pressing the limits with a lot of things he’s done recently,” said Tom Orlowsky, who has supported many Republican presidents over the years, but on Friday cast his vote for Biden.
Asked whether the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis influenced his decision, Orlowsky offered a quick reply: “Sure, sure it did.”
“This has been poorly handled and a lot of it could have been eliminated,” Orlowsky said. “I can’t help but think that that’s going to be a big thing in this election. It affected people’s lives and it didn’t have to be this way.”
Four years ago, Trump narrowly won Michigan, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state since 1988. His strength here in the suburbs of Detroit will help determine if he is able to do so again.
The state’s 16 electoral votes are a critical piece of the puzzle for both candidates. Trump’s victory in Michigan helped crumble the so-called blue wall of the Upper Midwest, also including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which paved his way to winning the White House. Biden’s visit to Michigan on Friday underscored the competitiveness once again.
After Philip Brown cast his ballot for Trump here, he said he did not blame the president for his conduct on coronavirus. He said he believed that any administration, regardless of political party, would have struggled to respond to the global pandemic.
“I think he was dealt a bad hand,” said Brown, who added that he also voted on Friday for his Democratic member of Congress and state senator.
Yet he said he was not surprised Trump tested positive, after watching how he has handled himself in recent months.
“This is a very contagious disease I figured at some point, even with all of the protections, he would have caught it,” Brown said. “It was kind of inevitable.”
While the President’s Covid-19 diagnosis is the latest bombshell of the 2020 campaign, conversations with voters here suggest it may not change many minds.
Dave Elliston, after dropping off his ballot here on Friday in support of Biden, had little sympathy for Trump.
“You should have worn a mask, dude. You didn’t wear a mask and now you’re going to pay the price,” Elliston said, his words dripping with sarcasm, but quickly turning serious.
“I don’t want him to die right now,” he said, “but he should get a taste of his willingness to avoid what everyone tells him he should do and set a good example for this country.”
Not all voters here were as harsh.
A Michigan physician, who identified himself only as Steve, said he has been frustrated that the pandemic has been politicized by both sides. He said Trump was wrong to mock Biden for wearing a mask, adding: “I’ve been wearing a mask for 45 years of my life. This is silly. It’s an easy thing to do.”
But as he stopped for a moment while running errands in the Oakland County city of Birmingham, he said he was leaning toward supporting Trump, because of his economic policies. He said he feared Biden would raise taxes.
“Blaming him for all the deaths is ridiculous,” he said. “This is something we have never experienced before – ever.”
He said the coronavirus crisis wasn’t likely to influence his vote, but before walking away, he added that he wished Americans had “better choices than these two guys.”
