In interviews with journalist Bob Woodward, US President Donald Trump admitted to downplaying the risk of the coronavirus.

But according to Jean-Eric Branaa, researcher specializing in the United States, this will not change the current state of the campaign, the match being already "finished", he says on Europe 1.

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There are only 53 days until the US presidential election which will see either Donald Trump, current White House resident and Republican candidate, or Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate, win.

While the campaign is in full swing, Jean-Eric Branaa, lecturer at the University of Paris-Assas and specialist in the United States, believes Friday on Europe 1 that in reality, "the match is over" because the Americans are "already decided".

Even the recordings of Donald Trump by investigative reporter Bob Woodward released Thursday, in which the president is heard to admit to having played down the severity of the coronavirus epidemic, will have "no consequences" according to him.

For Trump supporters, "there is always a good reason"

"It will have no consequences. Look at what has been going on for two months now: the shocks are enormous in this campaign, enough to defeat ten Trumps in another era! And yet, he is still in place, he has not lost a percentage point ", notes the specialist.

The recordings made between 2019 and 2020 by Bob Woodward as part of a book of 18 interviews with Donald Trump (with the latter's agreement), and which reveal that he lied about the epidemic, will not change this. therefore nothing.

Despite the almost 200,000 deaths from Covid-19.

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"Lying is certainly the greatest betrayal - and it is regularly denounced for it. There was this Friday someone very important in the American Episcopalian Church who explained that seeing the spokesperson lie to the press while carrying a cross was absolutely horrible for him. But each time, Trump supporters say that it is not really a lie, explain that there is always a good reason ", continues Jean-Eric Branaa .

Eight weeks before the vote, and as the United States approaches 30 million unemployed, "nothing is going to play out in the home stretch. In reality, we have seen it for two, three months, the match is over, the people are already decided. In the polls, less than 10% of people say they are not decided and we are not even sure that it is true ", he affirms.

"Joe Biden is way ahead"

If nothing will change, according to Jean-Eric Branaa, the trend is however clearly in favor of Joe Biden.

"I'm looking at the trend, not the polls. And that trend says Joe Biden is way ahead, I insist, for six months now. The polls give him a lead of between 6 and 12 points according to the institute, whether he is closer to Donald Trump or Joe Biden. Even if it is tightening in some key states, the trend is stable and strong in favor of Joe Biden. One wonders how Trump will be able to go up this slope in 53 days ".

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Indeed according to him, "Donald Trump has no strategy" when for his part Joe Biden, besides the fact that the vote "everything except Trump" is very strong, "was the very good candidate of this campaign" with " enormous assets. He is a centrist, who occupies this center which could make it possible to win the match ".

Americans "are fed up" and want "to get out of the pandemic"

In this very particular campaign, it is for Jean-Eric Branaa Donald Trump himself who "killed the match".

"He started his campaign on November 9, 2016, he has been in permanent campaign for four years. Today I think the Americans are fed up, they want to get to this election, move on, get out of this crushing pandemic campaign and prevents talking about the usual major themes ".

Even the context of riots after the death of Jacob Blake "does not benefit anyone", according to the specialist in the United States.

“The pandemic is a much stronger topic. When you're in deep, rural America, you see these riots on TV but it's not your daily life. That's not what people are watching; they are watching. their situation, their survival, the way in which we take care of them ... And for the moment, it is not foolish: there is still unemployment, health care which is scary ... This is what people will look at when voting. Social affairs are important for the general climate of this campaign, but not for its outcome, "concludes Jean-Eric Branaa.