TRUMP EGO KEEPS HIM FROM HAVING AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO COVID-19

…A less that empathetic president, Donald Trump

If people think the election is about empathy, Joe Biden is in a better position to speak to that.

President Trump’s Covid-19 response has been one with a devastating balance between his seeking credit and any real empathy. A Washington Post review last month of his coronavirus task force briefings showed Trump spent 10 times more time praising himself and his administration (45 minutes out of 13 hours) for his response to the virus.  He only expressed any condolences to victims over 4 ½ minutes, and in addition, he spent even more time attacking and blaming others, especially the Democrats (for two hours), but with zero examples of that blame.

Later, the president seemed to try to rectify his action, in a very small degree. He did this in a tweet, where he announced that flags would be flown at half-staff over the next three weeks “in memory of the Americans we have lost to the Covid-19.”

His lack of empathy is clearly something he needs to work on, and because he seldom shows any empathy at all, it’s something that will prove to be an electoral liability.

And that’s not just a comment from an anti-Trump coalition.  A new recent poll for the 2020 election features one of the biggest gaps to date between President Trump and former vice president, Joe Biden.  There was an 11 points difference nationally.  Biden was leading 50% to 39% for Trump nationally in the Quinnipiac University poll.  And the Quinnipiac poll usually leans a bit more towards the GOP, than to the more liberal Democrats.

This is serious trouble for Trump, as it will resonate during this Covid-19 era as his very wide: “empathy gap.”

While 42% of Americans do agree that Trump cares about “average Americans,” 61% say the same about Joe Biden. Trump is minus-14% on this count (42% positive vs 56%negative), while Biden is plus-31

(+61%-30%).

That overall gap is even bigger than it was during the 2016 election in which Hillary Clinton enjoyed an advantage on this question, but not to the large level that Biden does.  In September of 2016, Quinnipiac showed 53% of Americans said the former secretary of state cared about average Americans, while 44% said the same of Trump. That nine-point gap is now 19 points in favor of Biden.

It’s important to note that this empathy gap obviously didn’t make the difference for Clinton. The same poll showed people viewed Trump as being significantly less qualified to be president and also less level-headed than Clinton (71% said Trump wasn’t levelheaded), and yet, two months later, he won the election….? 

Exit polls showed just 15% of voters said having a president who “cares about me” was their top priority, compared to 21% in 2012.  In contrast, 4 in 10 voters in 2016 preferred someone who “can bring change to Washington,” and Trump won them 82%-14%.  (But the question today is, how do they feel about Trump’s ‘swampy’ Washington today?)

Trump’s win was apparently in large part because of the other attributes. It was a “change election”, in which Trump pledged to shake up Washington, which he has only made it worse. People who didn’t like either him or Clinton, they wound up going for Trump strongly, despite viewing Clinton as the more prepared and steadier politician. 

But today, it could be another “change election” to get rid of the “Trumpster”.

The Post's Ashley Parker has discussed how President Trump continually struggles to be the "consoler in chief", but he continues to put his ego "front and center" in every response to the pandemic.

Today, those people who dislike both Trump and Biden now do lean strongly toward Biden. That doesn’t mean it will always be thus, but it suggests that those who recognize Trump’s liabilities are much more willing to vote for the alternative.

And the chief among those Trump liabilities appears to be that lack of empathy. Of all the issues on which Quinnipiac compares the two 2020 candidates, none carries that same amount of imbalance.

Trump’s number on this is similar to where his approval rating has been for a long time. Biden, though, is viewed as being much stronger on empathy.  While 45% of Americans have a favorable impression of Biden in the same poll, his empathy number jumps 16 points.  And while 41% have an unfavorable impression of the former vice president, that number drops to 30% when it comes to whether he cares about average Americans.

The big question from here is whether that issue matters more than it did in 2016.  Voters generally favor the economy and a person’s leadership ability.  And to the extent people want someone to rescue the country from a recession, that could accrue to Trump’s benefit, given his former superior numbers on the economy..

But due to today’s overall down economy and all the American deaths and medical fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, other concerns could logically leap into the picture.

If people think the election is about empathy, caring about people who are struggling and which candidate, “feels your pain,” in a country currently experiencing plenty of pain, Joe Biden appears significantly better positioned to speak to that.

Donald Trump’s ego has gotten in the way over many issues in his presidency.  It would only be appropriate if it kept him from winning a second term.

Copyright G. Ater 2020