US election 2020: Voters upset with way COVID-19 pandemic is being handled
Jeff Terebey was happy to cast his vote for Donald Trump. But after COVID-19. he is one of many Americans who have revealed why they are changing their views.
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When Jeff Terebey was starting a new life four years ago he was 26-years-old and happy to cast his vote for Donald Trump.
“I had just gotten out of the military, so I had been receiving a lot of the rhetoric against Hillary and I think in terms of political capabilities I was willing to give him a chance,” Mr Terebey said.
Now working on the pricing of health care for the tech industry and “disgusted” at how the Trump administration has handled the pandemic, Mr Terebey said last week that he felt terrible about his vote.
“I am ashamed to say I voted for Trump,” said the 31 year old from Racine, North Carolina.
“I regret it.”
Mr Terebey is one of more than a record 60 million Americans to cast their vote ahead of next week’s election.
“I voted early in person last week and I voted for Biden/Harris. I am very fed up with the current state of affairs,” he said.
It’s not just the belittling of people wearing masks to stay safe that turned him off the president, he was also frustrated by suggestions COVID was some sort of hoax.
“I think if it was a conspiracy theory you wouldn’t see it in Europe and the rest of the world,” he said.
But in some parts of the US, there is certainly a big dose of cynicism towards what they see as over-hyped scaremongering about the need to curtail many activities to top the spread of the virus.
For instance, walk into a bar wearing a mask in many states in America’s south and mid-west and you’ll probably see a few people turn away shaking their heads.
Possibly sniggering, too.
Despite the US continuing to be smashed with an average of 70,000 new cases a day and the COVID death toll surging past 225,000, many Americans still refuse to social distance or wear a mask.
“I don’t think you can say we’re doing great, we’re just not,” said the nation’s top diseases expert and White House Adviser Dr Anthony Fauci.
“No matter how you look at it, it’s not good news.”
Experts say a major reason for America failing to control the pandemic was that too many states rushed to “re-open” their economies after the initial lockdowns in March and April as unemployment reached record levels.
Dr Fauci argues that America never actually got the so-called first wave of the virus under control before people rushed back into bars and restaurants, many refusing to wear masks. He says the country will not be able to retrieve the situation without a vaccine, good therapeutics, a mandate to wear masks and continued social distancing.
In a presidential election year, of course, COVID presented unique problems in the US.
The year began promisingly for Donald Trump when the Republican-controlled Senate cleared him of impeachment charges on February 5. With the economy in good shape, his re-election prospects were looking good.
But as the COVID clouds gathered grimly over America, the president’s attempts to downplay its seriousness sounded increasingly implausible.
The Democrats adopted a safety-first approach from the outset, cancelling primary elections to avoid large gatherings while the race for the nomination between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders was still underway.
In the end, with Mr Biden looking certain to win, Mr Sanders stood down rather than prolong the fight as the virus surged, particularly in New York.
“I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour,” Mr. Sanders said.
Meanwhile, President Trump declared a national emergency and schools, businesses, restaurants and bars closed down as much of the country went into lockdown, emptying the streets of major cities like New York and Boston.
It also meant a suspension of Mr Trump’s beloved mass rallies and Mr Biden choosing to stay in his basement rather than get out among voters.
In the closing days of the campaign, however, Mr Trump has been holding multiple mass rallies every day – sometimes resulting in COVID breakouts among attendees.
Mr Biden, who’s stuck to occasional virtual events and small gatherings on the campaign trail, said the “reason why it looks like we’re not travelling — we’re not putting on super-spreaders” – large events that could lead to COVID-19 infections.
“There’s a lot of things we could be doing — having massive crowds — but the fact is, it’s just not appropriate now,” Mr Biden said.
The Democrats have made COVID the central issue of this election and have relentlessly attacked the president over his handling of the pandemic.
“More than 225,000 people in this country are dead. More than 100,000 small businesses have closed. Half a million jobs are gone in Florida alone. Think about that,” former president Barack Obama said as he campaigned for Mr Biden yesterday.
“And what’s Trump’s closing argument? That people are too focused on COVID. He’s jealous of COVID’s media coverage. If he had been focused on COVID from the beginning, cases wouldn’t be reaching new record highs across the country this week.”
Mr Trump, enjoying the energy generated at his rallies in recent days, has indeed defended his handling of the virus.
“COVID COVID COVID, that’s all they talk about … If we hadn’t acted, 2.2 million people would have been dead. We will have a vaccine pretty soon and we will crush the virus. Get you children back to school!” Mr Trump said this week.
The sad truth is that when it comes to dealing with the pandemic, America seems to take three steps backwards for every half a shuffle it takes forward.
Underscoring how fraught the COVID issue has become in the US, consider that voters have been urged to “vote early” and not wait for election day on November 3 to avoid crowds and queues.
The problem, of course, is that the surge of early voting has seen long lines of people crammed together waiting to cast their ballot, in many cases standing shoulder to shoulder for hours to vote.
America is finding it very hard to shake this virus.
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Originally published as US election 2020: Voters upset with way COVID-19 pandemic is being handled