President Trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis has produced a political emergency for the White House, with a raft of signs suddenly pointing to possible big trouble when he faces re-election six months from now.
The state of play: His favorability rating, mostly stable throughout his presidency, has ticked down in Gallup to 43%, from 49% on March 22 — and a furious Trump blew up at his campaign team last week, snapping at campaign manager Brad Parscale: "I am not f---ing losing to Joe Biden," AP reported.
- The backdrop was a series of swing-state polls showing real trouble for Trump, and a string of polls showing older voters — a bedrock group for the president — drifting to Biden.
- Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), a Trump loyalist who's up for re-election, said during an off-the-record conference call this week, according to CNN: "The state of Georgia is in play" — a jarring read on a traditionally red state where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by five points.
- Trump led in Florida polls in March but is now modestly behind Biden, per the Tampa Times.
A senior White House official, reflecting the view of many in Trump's orbit, told Axios: "I think you can take a snapshot of the first of May, and it’ll be incredibly different than the first of November."
- "The likelihood you’ll have several months of job growth and a better economy in November is a real thing."
Behind the scenes: Trump administration officials privately tell Axios' Alayna Treene and Margaret Talev that the virus has made them more worried about the election than they’ve ever been.
- Trump had been riding a strong economy his entire time in office. Now, the Nov. 3 outcome could well depend on whether he's able to conjure signs of recovery out of this calamity, with 26.5 million jobs lost in five weeks.
Between the lines: All this comes amid yet more West Wing turnover, with aides divided about how to respond.
- And the Trump playbook — punch back, blame someone else — has been off-key in this moment.
