US presidential election: four questions pending 100 days before the election

The days go by and the specter of defeat haunts more and more Donald Trump and his team. Stuck in the mismanagement of the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the President of the United States is unable to change the situation. With 100 days before the presidential election on November 3, national polls give him an average of 8 points behind his Democratic rival. Worse, they also place him in second position in several key states in the election he won in 2016, such as Michigan, Florida or Arizona.

For his part, the former vice-president of Barack Obama is taking the height and campaigning online because of the new coronavirus. He takes full advantage of Donald Trump's mistakes, but the election is far from won in advance. Joe Biden must also overcome his own challenges if he plans to win next fall.

• Will Donald Trump be able to extricate himself from Covid-19?

This is called self-talk. "The Trump campaign has more enthusiasm, in the opinion of several observers, than any other campaign in the history of our great country, even more than in 2016," assured on Twitter, Sunday, July 26, the billionaire Republican to recreate the momentum that led to his surprise victory four years ago. "Biden has none! The silent majority will speak on November 3," added Donald Trump.

The Trump Campaign has more ENTHUSIASM, according to many, than any campaign in the history of our great Country - Even more than 2016. Biden has NONE! The Silent Majority will speak on NOVEMBER THIRD !!! Fake Suppression Polls & Fake News will not save the Radical Left.

The reality, however, looks quite different. The Covid-19 pandemic has considerably weakened the American president, uncomfortable in the exercise of crisis management. It was for him a missed opportunity: that of posing as a reliable ship captain in bad weather. Thus, according to an ABC News poll, two thirds of Americans disapprove of its response to the coronavirus.

>> To see: "Faced with the tsunami of crises, can Donald Trump be re-elected?"

Long in denial as the deaths multiplied, Donald Trump ended up making a dramatic turnaround in mid-July, acknowledging that the situation would "get worse before it gets better". Wearing a mask and cancellation of the Republican convention scheduled for late August in Florida: the president now says that "setting an example is very important". These recent changes, as the southern and western United States continue to be hit hard by the coronavirus, may not be enough to erase months of chaotic management.

• "Law and order" as the only strategy?

To change the situation, Donald Trump has been banking for several weeks on the strategy of "law and order" which had made the success of Richard Nixon's presidential campaign in 1968. That year, the United States had experienced numerous race riots and the Republican candidate had castigated the power in place in the White House, which he accused of being light-hearted.

Problem for Donald Trump: unlike Richard Nixon, it is he who has occupied the Oval Office for three and a half years. Local authorities, and in particular Democratic mayors, have therefore become the target of the president, who has sent federal agents to several towns to "restore order".

>> To read: "Trump's anti-crime plan: a vague legal framework that is controversial"

During a briefing at the White House, Monday, July 20, Donald Trump notably cited Baltimore, Detroit, New York, Oakland and Philadelphia as cities where he could send federal agents. "All run by the same liberal Democrats," he commented.

In parallel, his campaign team is now broadcasting several advertisements wrongly accusing Joe Biden of wanting to lower the police budget. "You will not be safe in Joe Biden's America," reads consistently at the end of these advertisements.

• Will Joe Biden succeed in bringing together the Democratic family?

In 2016, Hillary Clinton had not done enough to rally the voters of Bernie Sanders, herald of the American radical left. Joe Biden has apparently learned the lesson and took the trouble to set up a task force made up of members of his team and that of the senator from Vermont to come up with a common platform. The negotiations lasted several weeks and were at times tense, but the two sides reached a comprehensive compromise.

This draft program unveiled on July 9, which focuses on the struggles against Covid-19, unemployment and global warming, now makes Joe Biden a much less centrist candidate than he looks .

Joe Biden has thus taken up the promise to increase the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour and wants to make tax credits more favorable to the middle and working classes. He also plans to invest $ 100 billion to make housing more accessible and wants to triple federal spending on schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

>> To read: In Iowa, the heart swings between the revolution of Sanders and the sacred union of Biden

But it is on environmental issues that a considerable step has been taken. Its climate plan provides in particular for the carbon neutrality of the United States by 2050 with a program for the construction of low-energy consumption housing, incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles manufactured in the United States, or the passage of the government fleet to electric vehicles. Joe Biden also intends to develop renewable energies with the installation of 500 million solar panels and 60,000 wind turbines.

These proposals were greeted on Twitter by Bernie Sanders or the muse of the democratic youth, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It remains to be seen whether they will be enough to decide their voters to vote for the former vice-president, now 77 years old.

Though the end result isn't what I or my supporters would've written alone, the task forces have created a good policy blueprint that will move this country in a much-needed progressive direction and substantially improve the lives of working families throughout our country . 2/3

• Which candidate alongside Joe Biden?

The Democratic White House contender has already announced that he will choose a woman as his running mate. He must now decide between a moderate profile, likely to appeal to voters disappointed with Donald Trump, or a profile much more to the left capable of arousing enthusiasm among young people.

This choice is very important. If elected, Joe Biden would become the oldest president in U.S. history. However, speculations concerning his health are numerous and he must therefore reassure with a candidate able to succeed him.

So who to form the Democratic "ticket"? The names of Senator Kamala Harris, the candidate against him in the primary, or of Barack Obama's former national security adviser, Susan Rice, are regularly cited, as are those of Representatives Val Demings and Karen Bass, or the Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

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