With two weeks ago having an unprecedented number of people who applied for unemployment benefits and nearly doubling estimates, last week's numbers proved to be an even greater testament of how deep of a grave the US has dug itself by failing to be proactive with the coronavirus. People applying for unemployment benefits surged to 6.6 million last week, doubling the 3.3 million from two weeks ago and surpassing estimates predicting 4.5 to 5.5 million. It has become evident of how dubious forecasts will be in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, and the big question of how the US economy will do during and after the pandemic still remains.
It is clear that policies will need to be implemented to mitigate damage done to the economy. With more benefits from the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill arriving in the coming weeks, do you think that this stimulus bill will be enough? Do you think the large time gap between now and when more people start receiving these benefits will cause a lot of harm?
One of the greatest factors to Trump's campaign was how well the economy was doing under his administration. Noting that Trump's approval ratings have gone up in the past weeks despite how terrible the economy was doing, how do you think this pandemic will affect Trump's standing in the General Election?
The stimulus bill might have been enough had the US gone into total lockdown after the first few hundred cases, but by April 1, when we had already reached into the hundreds of thousands of cases (USA #1!), there were STILL STATES NOT IN LOCKDOWN. No, the stimulus bill will not be enough, and I'm pretty sure the government knows this. Any help, however, is still better than no help, and the government ALSO knows this. The large time gap between the benefits won't make much of a difference - it will make as much of a negative impact as the bill makes a positive impact. As for Trump's standing in the general election, nothing's changed. If anything, Trump's horrible response, ironically, may have actually boosted his poll numbers because people have started thinking "if Trump is this bad at responding, how bad must Biden be?" The whole race has become picking the best of the worst.
ReplyDeleteI genuinely believe that the Trump Administration's response to COVID-19 and the economic collapse caused though lockdowns will shift the balance in the 2020 general election making a democratic victory far more likely. Before COVID-19 many were saying "I don't like Trump as a person but at least the economy is doing well." Now the economy isn't doing well and that will cause many to vote for Biden in the 2020 election.
ReplyDeleteWith so many people losing their jobs, a stimulus bill is needed to try and stimulate the economy. However, I do not think that a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill is enough. Since the unemployment benefits have been doubling, it is hard to say how high it will get. Looking at a week's difference, it is probable that even a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill will help with that. I do think that the awareness of the economy is higher at the moment than previous times. At the moment, the pandemic has caused a huge recession worse than the great recession. I think this will definitely affect Trump's votes in the General Election by looking at what Trump's administration has done to try and help boost the economy back up again.
ReplyDeleteI think Trump still has a very high chance to win, unfortunately. I say these because in times or crisis, people tend to rally around their leader. Think Bush and 9/11. He mismanaged the pandemic terribly, but I still think he has a really good chance to win considering who he'll be going up against.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Trump might end up winning again this year. Trump has been able to keep up a good economy, unfortunately. He has been able to keep his republican supporters happy. In order for a Democrat to win they would have to try soothing new or try to see what they could do in this pandemic to support everyone.
ReplyDeleteI sadly believe that this pandemic will actually increase Trump's likelihood of winning the general election. While Trump has been managing this quite poorly, he has at least been doing things, unlike Joe Biden, who has done very little and almost disappeared during this time. There is no ability to campaign traditionally right now, and Trump has the ability to utilize platforms like Twitter quite well, and Biden has absolutely no tech-savvy. As Will pointed out, in times of crisis like war, history has shown that people do not attempt to bring change and stick with what they know.
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