Speaker Nancy Pelosi is determined to keep the House in the hands of Democrats and prevent President Trump from winning reelection. She has made criticism of his presidency a central part of her message.
Pelosi is seeking another two-year term as speaker after regaining the prize in the 2018 elections. She previously held the gavel from 2007-11, with eight years in the political wilderness in between. She has consistently blamed Trump for the spread of the coronavirus, the more than 180,000 deaths in America, and the economic recession that followed.
Pelosi in July began calling the coronavirus the “Trump virus” and has for months blamed the president for the economic downturn that followed nationwide lockdowns.
“The president of the United States is central to that failure because he rejects science and he rejects governance,” Pelosi said on MSNBC in early September. “From the start, he was in denial, delay, distortion, called it a hoax. He just would not accept the science.”
At every public appearance, Pelosi devotes time to criticizing Trump’s response to the virus and his latest calls for schools to reopen and to end widespread testing and lockdowns.
She also promotes House efforts to counter the president’s perceived malfeasance: Pelosi summoned lawmakers to an emergency August session to pass a bill that would provide $25 billion to the U.S. Postal Service and block Postmaster General Louis DeJoy from implementing service changes that would slow mail delivery.
Pelosi has depicted Trump as a president who puts his own political ambitions ahead of the health and safety of the people.
“What he’s basically saying to America’s families is, ‘I know better than you what’s good for your family,’” Pelosi said in early September. “’Please put me ahead of the well-being of your child or your parent or your sibling because it’s better politics for me to ignore that this is really happening.’ So, it’s really a tragedy.”
Pelosi has ramped up criticism of the president as polls show the public is unhappy with Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and that it could hinder his reelection.
A Harvard-Harris poll of nearly 2,000 registered voters released the first week of September found 59% of voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus.
Voters in battleground states are no happier with the president’s handling of the virus and, at the same time, rank it as a top issue that will influence how they vote in the November election.
A Sept. 1 Fox News poll of swing-state voters found that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is “trusted to do a better job” than Trump in handling the coronavirus by a margin of 52% to 35% in Wisconsin, 53% to 36% in Arizona, and 50% to 41% in North Carolina.
Pelosi’s aim is to help elect Biden while maintaining Democratic control of the House.
Pelosi, 80, is likely to seek another term as speaker and is popular among Democrats in the caucus.
Race raters predict the House will largely look the same, with Democrats in control by at least two dozen seats as vulnerable Republicans struggle under the threat of Biden’s popularity.
House Democrats now control 232 seats while Republicans hold 198.
