Democrats are sensing an expanded opportunity to oust President Trump after a fourth consecutive week of staggering unemployment insurance claims brought millions of job losses to the battleground states that determine the outcome of the fall elections.
The 22 million who filed for assistance amid the coronavirus pandemic are spread across the country, with neither big urban blue states nor sparsely populated rural red states spared. But voters in the most competitive states, which are critical to Trump’s reelection, are among the hardest hit, and Democrats are stepping up attacks on the president’s stewardship of an economy that was shuttered by bipartisan consensus to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“For more people to stay in their jobs, Donald Trump has to do his job,” former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said Thursday in a scathing statement that blamed Trump for the depth of the downturn. Added House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Because of the incompetent reaction to this health crisis, the strong economy handed to Donald Trump is now a disaster, causing the suffering of countless Americans and endangering lives.”
More than 5.2 million people filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, according to government figures released Thursday. That puts the number of people who have requested assistance above 22 million since state and local governments, with the support of the Trump administration, began closing businesses deemed nonessential in March to quash the coronavirus outbreak.
In key 2020 battlegrounds, the volume of applications has been high. For example, according to available data, more than 1 million people in Pennsylvania filed for unemployment insurance over just a three-week period from late March to early April. In Michigan, that number reached nearly 821,000. In Florida, it hit almost 473,000. In North Carolina, it reached 403,650, and in Wisconsin, it was near 267,000.
That amounts to a significant change in the political atmosphere for Trump.
Before the coronavirus spread across the country, infecting more than 664,000 and killing more than 33,000, Trump presided over record-low unemployment, strong economic growth, and positive consumer sentiment.
Nevertheless, many Republican insiders are confident that voters are not going to hold Trump responsible for a recession. What matters, they contend, is the president’s strategy for a rebound, which he began laying out on Thursday.
“The blame is not necessarily going on the president in Pennsylvania,” said Josh Novotney, a GOP lobbyist in Philadelphia. He said Trump can make a strong case that much of the blame for the pandemic and its fallout lies with China and that voters in his state might direct some of their frustration at Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
Michael Steel, a Republican operative in Washington, said Trump could benefit from leading a recovery even if it is not fully realized. “It only matters what he does and how well it works,” Steel said. “If the American people feel safe, healthy, prosperous, and hopeful, he will win.”
Many Republicans are currently pointing the finger at congressional Democrats for blocking a Trump administration request to provide an additional $250 billion in federal funds for a small-business loan program designed to prevent layoffs during the economic shutdown. Democrats are demanding more money for food stamps and other social safety net items in exchange for approving Republicans’ request for fast passage of this additional relief money.
The Trump campaign said it will cost Biden and Democrats up and down the ticket this November.
“As the initial funding of the program is expended, Democrats are shamelessly playing politics and putting Americans into greater economic danger,” said Tim Murtaugh, a senior Trump campaign spokesman. “Congressional Democrats and their hapless candidate for president care more about appeasing their special interests and scoring political points against President Trump than they do about making sure small businesses can keep workers on payroll.”
