Joe Biden has consistently held a wide polling lead over US President Donald Trump ahead of November's election. But despite Trump's botched response to the COVID-19 pandemic – a failure that has left the economy far weaker than it otherwise would have been – he has maintained a marginal edge on the question of which candidate would be better for the US economy.

Thanks to Trump, a country with just 4 per cent of the world's population accounts for more than 20 per cent of total COVID-19 deaths – an utterly shameful outcome, given America's advanced (albeit expensive) healthcare system.