In Iowa, where polls show him running close to Trump, Biden said the president’s failure to contain the pandemic had cost lives and sent the economy into a tailspin.
“One in six businesses is now out of business because he won’t act,” Biden said at a drive-in rally at the Iowa state fairgrounds in Des Moines, where a pair of bald eagles circled overhead as he wrapped up.
“We cannot afford four more years of Donald Trump,” he said. ​ The coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 229,000 people in the United States and cost millions more their jobs, has dominated the final days of the campaign.
Trump has played down the health crisis for months, telling supporters in recent weeks that the country is “turning the corner” even as cases surge. Biden has warned of a “dark winter” ahead and promised a renewed effort to contain the virus.
Trump trails Biden in national opinion polls, partly because of widespread disapproval of his handling of the pandemic. Opinion polls in the most competitive states that will decide the election have shown a closer contest.
The focus on the upper Midwest underlined the region’s importance in the race. Michigan and Wisconsin were two of the three historically Democratic industrial states, along with Pennsylvania, that narrowly voted for the Republican Trump in 2016, delivering him an upset victory.
Reuters
