Aaron Blake: “Not only has Trump this week been treated to two of his most brutal 2020 polls to date — an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows him trailing by 14 points, while the CNN poll (the first conducted after his diagnosis) shows him down 16 — but he’s resuming much the same behavior that made coronavirus a particular liability to begin with. Trump seems to believe what the moment calls for is a show of strength from him personally, a fearless leader defeating the virus and emerging even less cowed. But the polls repeatedly suggest people would prefer steady leadership, honesty and a real plan. And the new polls reinforce that this episode has cast a spotlight on what people view as Trump’s irresponsible handling of the pandemic.”
“The new CNN poll was conducted before the scenes of Monday night, but while Trump was taking his joyride to wave to supporters on Saturday. He and his team seem to believe that beating the virus and displaying something amounting to strength will prove to voters that he’s the one to handle the situation and could right the ship. But pretty much everything he’s done in the course of trying to project that strength rehashes all the things that made this a liability in the first place.”