The coronavirus pandemic is elevating healthcare as a key issue in the 2020 campaign, a development that could put President Trump in a deeper hole in suburban battlegrounds as the November elections approach.
College-educated voters who predominate in the suburbs, especially women, prefer Democrats over Republicans and prioritize healthcare, recent polling shows. The coronavirus is raising concerns about public health and the capacity of the medical system to handle the crisis.
“A ‘government-do-more’ election is bad for Republicans,” said one GOP operative, who, like other sources, asked to remain anonymous to discuss the sensitive topic of the politics surrounding a deadly disease.
The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on life in the United States, and around the world, are fast-moving and evolving. The political fallout could be equally swift — and unpredictable.
But polling conducted before the onset of the crisis revealed that Democrats had retained a political edge on healthcare with suburban voters that helped drive their 40-seat takeover of the House, as well as Senate victories in suburban-heavy Arizona and Nevada, in the 2018 midterm elections. That stemmed from suburban voters’ support for Obamacare — a law opposed by Republicans — and, among its other benefits, the federal insurance protections it offers for preexisting medical conditions.
Some Republican insiders fear their party’s problem on this critical issue, a 20-point deficit according to a survey of voters across dozens of suburban battlegrounds, will only become more pronounced because of the coronavirus. Democrats are certainly confident of that outcome.
“People already had good reasons not to trust Donald Trump’s healthcare plans,” a Democratic strategist said. “Now, sadly, they’re feeling the consequences of a president who ignores public health experts, doesn’t believe in healthcare, and doesn’t even believe in science.”
Trump has aggressively rejected claims that his healthcare agenda would eliminate protections for preexisting conditions. On Tuesday, the president announced that the federal government would reimburse Medicare providers for telephone consultations with seniors as part of the administration’s strategy for combating the coronavirus.
Nevertheless, many Republican operatives believe it is far too early to draw conclusions about how healthcare will play in the campaign months down the road. Some believe the Democrats’ upper hand has diminished thanks to polarizing proposals to abolish private health insurance and put the government in charge of care, plans offered by Bernie Sanders and other Democratic presidential candidates.
True, Democratic front-runner Joe Biden opposes so-called “Medicare for all” plans and would only go so far as to allow people the option to purchase government insurance. But Republican insiders say Democrats have muddled their healthcare message, providing Trump with a lifeline to reclaim suburban support that could prove crucial to his reelection prospects.
“The shift in messaging from preexisting conditions to ‘Medicare for all’ to appease the far Left was beyond dumb,” a Republican consultant said. “Democrats lost the upper hand on healthcare that they and their allies spent hundreds of millions getting in 2018.”
