Now the polls show Joe Biden leading in all three, albeit narrowly in Iowa.
Saint Paul, United States:
Joe Biden stepped up his attacks on President Donald Trump on Friday as they fought for the U.S. Midwest, chasing every final vote four days to go in an area that propelled the Republican to victory in 2016.
Trump and Biden stormed three heart states each, but the race was eclipsed by the pandemic with coronavirus infections spreading across the country and 94,000 new infections recorded on Friday – a new high for the second day in a row – and a total of cases exceeding nine million.
Trump announced a “big day” of campaigning by leaving the White House, then organizing a rally in Michigan before heading to Wisconsin and Minnesota.
“We just want normalcy,” he told his supporters – many of whom were unmasked – at an outdoor rally near Detroit as he urged states to ease public health restrictions and resume daily life.
He again denied advice from health experts in his own administration in downplaying the Covid-19 threat, saying “if you get it you will get better, and then you will be immune.”
Covid-19 has killed nearly 230,000 people in the United States, and hospitals are bracing for the approach of winter flu season.
The epidemic has devastated the economy and, although there have been signs of recovery, millions of people remain unemployed.
Biden was also stumped in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where he sharpened his attacks on the president on everything from Trump seeking to dismantle Obama-era health care protections and keep his climate change taxes a secret. and trade policy with China.
“We can’t afford four more years of Donald Trump,” the 77-year-old Democrat said at a socially distant rally in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“So honk if you want America to lead again!” he said, embracing the pandemic-era campaign’s awkward tendency to rally supporters in their vehicles.
“Blow your horn if you want to be courteous again, and honk if you want America to be united again!”
Earlier in Iowa, he attacked Trump for his handling of the pandemic.
“Donald Trump gave up (and) waved the white flag,” Biden said during a rally with more than 300 cars in Des Moines.
‘Less divided’
Trump toppled Democrats’ Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin for his shock victory four years ago.
Polls now show Biden to lead in all three, albeit narrowly in Iowa.
It was Biden’s first visit to Iowa since starting his less than auspicious campaign in February, when he placed sadly fourth in the first Democratic nomination contest.
So can Biden convince enough voters to win in Hawkeye State?
“I wouldn’t put any money on it,” Iowa lawyer Sara Riley, 61, said at Biden’s event, although she was more confident he would win the White House.
“I think Americans, even Trump supporters, want to get to a place where the country is less divided,” Riley said.
With voters concerned about the health risks of crowded polling stations on November 3, a record 86 million people have already voted early by mail or in person.
Even as Covid-19 infections skyrocket, Trump has stuck to his guns, downplaying dangers and branding Democrats as rampaging “socialists” with the intention of shutting down the country.
And while he touted his presidency’s economic successes, including positive GDP figures on Thursday, US stocks ended their worst week since March, underscoring concerns over a fragile recovery.
“Make Texas blue?”
After a campaign largely stifled by the pandemic, Biden is on the offensive, pushing Trump on the back foot in unexpected battlefields like Texas, a large traditionally conservative stronghold now valued by several analysts.
On Friday, the state reported that nine million residents had already voted, exceeding its 2016 total.
Biden’s vice president Kamala Harris traveled to Texas on Friday in a bid to make the state democratic for the first time since President Jimmy Carter in 1976.
“We have a chance to make Texas blue,” Carter, 96, said in a fundraising email.
Biden winning there would be a dagger for Trump, but the president dismissed the idea, saying, “Texas, we’re doing great.”
Trump and Biden are focusing their greatest efforts on the traditional battlefields that will decide the election – like Florida, where the two campaigned on Thursday.
On Saturday, Biden returns to the Midwest with perhaps his strongest supporter: former President Barack Obama, making his first joint in-person appearance of the year with his former vice president.
Motown legend Stevie Wonder will join them, the Biden campaign has said.
Trump will spend the day campaigning in critical Pennsylvania state, where he closely follows Biden in the polls.
Biden will follow there on Sunday and Monday, a clear sign that his campaign sees Keystone State as absolutely crucial to his victory.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
