CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — 3News spoke with some local political experts about the possible impact on the upcoming election after the president tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
“Everyone of course is wishing the president and Mrs. Trump a speedy and complete recovery,” said Political Analyst Dr. Bill Chriss.
The news that the president has tested positive for COVID-19 has stunned Americans. 3News reached out to 3News Political Analyst Dr. Bill Chriss to ask if this may impact support for the president.
“I think this diagnosis combined with the poor debate performance and the revelations about trump's taxes are going to hurt him. That and all of those three things together are going to hurt him,” said Dr. Chriss. “I don't think any of those things by themselves would necessarily make much of a difference in how the election is going to turn out. For trump, this is really the perfect storm.”
How will the news impact voter turnout next month? Associate Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M Kingsville, Dr. Travis Braidwood, says the announcement may not affect voter turnout and may encourage more voting.
“The rural parts of the state surrounding the major metro areas there is healthy support for Donald Trump. I can't imagine there's going to be a tremendous amount of influence in those voters. They tend to be pretty entrenched and their record of voting republican is pretty strong,” said Dr. Braidwood. “For the more liberal enclaves such as the lower valley or those in the San Antonio or Austin area and sort of approaching corpus, I think we're going to see some of the same things.”
Dr. Braidwood agrees that there may be an impact on support for trump among undecided voters.
“I think it's going to be more about a degree of motivation and that is are we going to see suddenly anything the candidates can do to persuade people to take the affirmative step of stepping out of the home, potentially risking themselves to exposure and lining up at a polling booth,” said Dr. Braidwood.
While we also wish the president and first lady well in their recovery, we thought it important to ask what if the president was unable to recover?
“If the president dies after the election but before taking office, and if he wins the election then his running mate becomes president. So, it would be pence,” said Dr. Braidwood.