With Labor Day upon us, as a nation heads back to school and work, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are honing their final strategies in a race that will likely take many twists and turns till Election Day.
Both candidates are putting their own spin on the inevitable election year question: are we better off than we were four years ago?
Stonehill College Dean Peter Ubertaccio says, “With eight weeks to go, it’s pretty clear that the people think the country is moving in the wrong direction.”
Ubertaccio says that’s based in part on a still sagging economy -- but mostly because of the pandemic, which has killed almost 200,000 Americans.
Ubertaccio says, “Joe Biden’s key argument for Covid is, it didn’t need to be this bad.”
While the polls have tightened, most still give Biden an edge. Though Ubertaccio says the only states that really matter are a handful of swing states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Florida.
Ubertaccio says, “He’s doing pretty well, but we know fortunes can turn pretty quickly.”
Politics
Trump will point to a rising stock market warning that Biden will tack hard left, pressured by a socialist base -- though it is unclear if that will work on a former elected official most voters have known for decades to be a centrist. Perhaps Trump’s strongest asset is his incumbency.
Ubertaccio says, “It’s still difficult to beat an incumbent president, it hasn’t been done since 1992 and in that year there was a significant third-party candidate.”
One potential key turning point for this presidential race: the three debates. Donald Trump and Joe Biden will face off for the first time on Sept. 29 in Ohio.
