Written by Jacob Callus
One only needs to login to social media or watch the news right now in order to see to what extent the outbreak of the coronavirus has both captivated people’s attention and altered their lives. Amongst the several impacts the virus is leaving, the most unpredictable of all will perhaps be how it affects the outcome of the presidential election in the United States this November.
Bernie Sanders’ announcement
Following Bernie Sanders’ decision to suspend his campaign for the primaries to decide over who will be the Democratic Party nominee, the original number of 29 contenders have now dwindled down to just one: former US senator and vice president Joe Biden. Despite there initially being a crowded field of politicians vying to be Donald Trump’s opponent, it was evident from the onset that Bernie Sanders had an uphill battle ahead against Biden’s support from the moderate wing of the Democratic Party and the centre-ground of American politics.
Be it the controversial reception which his policies receive, or the obvious ideological divide present within the Democratic Party, this election left Sanders being the underdog in the contest for the Democrats to take back the White House. With all the twists and turns which this election campaign ended up having, the expectations which commentators and political pundits had were challenged when the candidates started to withdraw from the race, and the rest of them followed suit. Now that it has ultimately come down to just Biden being the only candidate left standing, the stage has been set in the eyes of many for the presumptive Democratic nominee and a Republican president to go head to head in what’s promising to be an entertaining political contest.
Medicare for All
What was even more unexpected however was the direction this election has wound up taking as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, with the focus shifting to issues such as healthcare, universal basic income and what ought to be a government response to crises such as these. In light of the fact that ‘Medicare for All’ (a form of universal healthcare) was Sanders’ trademark pledge, the nature of America’s healthcare system has proven to be a key issue not only for the upcoming presidential election but for how the consequences the coronavirus pandemic will be addressed in the United States. An even more crucial factor is Biden’s increasing momentum inevitably compromising what would have Trump’s planned strategy against Sanders, due to Trump being a fervent critic of Sander’s socialist policies, together with Biden, and both of them opposing ‘Medicare for All’.
Whilst the development of this crisis will undoubtedly determine how the remainder of this election campaign will unravel, Trump’s response to not only the coronavirus, but also to the expected economic fallout resulting from this pandemic is what may very well determine whether he will still be running America by next year or not. Together with this, whatever policies Biden produces to help combat the spread of the Coronavirus will settle whether he can outvote Trump.