Last night President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden faced off for the last time before the November 3 election. Although this debate was much more civilized and traditional than their previous verbal spar, it did not have a particularly strong impact.
For the most part, during last night’s debate Trump appeared like a different person compared to the first one. His tone was calmer and he was dissuaded from interrupting his opponent by the microphone mute button, which only had to be used against him a couple of times.
Nevertheless, Trump did not earn any points on his responses about the coronavirus pandemic, which is the most pressing problem for the United States at the moment and thus one of the main discussion topics during these elections.
The President continues to ignore the facts and the science behind the pandemic. While the country is seeing the number of new Covid-19 cases each day increase, Trump claims the virus is dying down. In addition, instead of proposing an actual plan for dealing with the pandemic, Trump stated he is hoping for a vaccine to come within weeks, a prognosis that does not align with any of the vaccine developers’ timelines.
Joe Biden took a grimmer, if more realistic approach to the pandemic. He acknowledged the danger Covid-19 poses to Americans and warned that a vaccine might not be readily available until mid-2021. If elected President, Biden said he would focus on better rules for managing schools and businesses until it is safe, and would bring more fiscal stimulus to support them during the ongoing crisis.
Unlike Trump, Biden came into the debate with a set of specific policies to discuss. Together with a more careful response to the coronavirus, he also stated that he is preparing a revision to the ACA into “Bidencare” to offer healthcare coverage to more Americans. Another plan he has for his presidency is to begin the United States’ withdrawal from oil and turn the country’s attention to renewable energy instead.
Overall, Biden has retained his 10-point lead in the polls. It remains to be seen if the poll predictions will prove accurate when Americans head into the voting booths in 10 days’ time.
