Tower Center Senior Fellow Harold Clarke, Fellow Marianne Stewart, Associate Karl Ho, and Professor Paul Whitely of the University of Essex wrote about how when Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on October 2 and was hospitalized a day later it was widely assumed this would put a major crimp in his re-election campaign. In the event, the US president recovered quite quickly and returned to the campaign trail with gusto after a typically bullish photo-op as he arrived back at the White House.
But survey evidence – initial findings from which are published here for the first time – shows that, despite having apparently triumphed over the virus, he did not escape the grasp of COVID-19 and that his handling of the pandemic played a crucial role in his defeat in the November 3 election. Read more here.