Good morning and welcome to On Politics, a daily political analysis of the 2020 elections based on reporting by New York Times journalists.
Where things stand
Activists and women’s rights advocates have grown increasingly frustrated over the past few weeks as Joe Biden has held back on addressing the sexual assault allegation against him by Tara Reade, who worked in his Senate office in the 1990s. This week, two more women came forward to corroborate parts of Reade’s account. As our reporters Lisa Lerer and Sydney Ember wrote in an article published yesterday afternoon, a group of activists had prepared a public letter this month pushing Biden to directly acknowledge Reade’s allegations. “Vice President Biden has the opportunity, right now, to model how to take serious allegations seriously,” the draft letter said. After Biden’s campaign found out about the letter, the authors put its publication on hold and shifted toward pressuring him to make a statement before the end of April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Today is the end of the month.
Women’s issues have long been a central — if sometimes fraught — element of Biden’s political reputation. While Reade worked in his office, Biden was pushing to pass the Violence Against Women Act, which became a cornerstone of his legacy in the Senate. But before that, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden had presided over Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court, during which Anita Hill testified that she had been sexually harassed by Thomas; Biden refused to call other women to testify who said they had similar experiences with Thomas. And pro-abortion-rights groups have long been troubled by his past support for the Hyde Amendment, which banned federal funding for most abortions, and which Biden supported until last year. Given Reade’s account, some women’s rights advocates who support his candidacy have said they want him to publicly express that he takes the allegation seriously, even if he rejects it. At the very least, they would like to see Biden draw a sharp contrast with President Trump, who has been accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by at least a dozen women, and who was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault.
Some good news in the fight against the coronavirus arrived yesterday, with a caveat. Early tests of an experimental drug proved promising enough for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, to describe the news as “very optimistic.” Speaking at the White House, Fauci said, “It is a very important proof of concept, because what it has proven is that a drug can block this virus.” The Food and Drug Administration could issue an emergency approval for the drug, remdesivir, according to a senior administration official. Trump has pushed to go further with an effort known internally as Operation Warp Speed to speed up the testing and approval of a vaccine. That process is typically expected to take at least a year to 18 months; Trump wants it done by the end of the year. Health officials and other aides in the White House have expressed skepticism, and no such operation has been publicly announced.
A few months ago, economists were quietly fretting over the possibility that a bubble might burst, sending the high-flying economy into a downswing. But it’s safe to say that no one predicted the level of devastation wrought by a pandemic that has forced businesses to close and, according to the latest polling, caused half of American households to be affected by a loss of work. A full measure of the virus’s impact has not yet been taken, writes Ben Casselman. Economists think the current quarter’s figures may show the G.D.P. contracting at an annual rate of 30 percent or more, a level not seen since before World War II. “They’re going to be the worst in our lifetime,” said Dan North, an economist with the credit insurance company Euler Hermes North America. At the same time, the stock market is soaring — particularly upon hearing the good news about remdesivir yesterday.
Photo of the day
President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence participated in a meeting on Wednesday with industry executives about reopening the economy.
Biden is now more trusted on the coronavirus than Trump, a poll found.
A newly released poll has found that Americans are 15 percentage points more likely to say that they would prefer having Biden handle the coronavirus crisis, rather than Trump.
According to the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist College poll released yesterday, a slimmer majority also said they would rather have Biden steering the economy, historically seen as one of Trump’s strongest suits.
Last month, Americans appeared more evenly split. In a similarly worded question about the virus, an ABC News/Washington Post poll at the end of March found 45 percent saying they trusted Trump more to handle the pandemic and 43 percent naming Biden. On the economy, Trump was more trusted by an eight-point margin, according to the ABC/Post poll.
In the new poll, from NPR/PBS/Marist, most Americans said they had made up their minds about whom to support for president — but 42 percent of independent voters said the pandemic would be a factor in their decision.
The preference for Biden’s leadership was most pronounced among the oldest Americans, a significant voting bloc that usually trends Republican but among whom Biden has shown particular strength. Biden was preferred to handle the pandemic by 64 percent of those over 73 years old, the members of the so-called silent generation and greatest generation, the NPR/PBC/Marist poll found. Thirty-five percent of them trusted Trump more.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
