1. COVID-19 and the 2020 US presidential election: Did the pandemic cost Donald Trump reelection?
- Author:
- Marcus Noland and Eva (Yiwen) Zhang
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- By Election Day 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had killed 234,244 Americans and caused the sharpest macroeconomic downturn in US history. Hypothetical calculations using county-level electoral data show that in a “no pandemic” scenario or a scenario in which the severity of the pandemic was mitigated by 30 percent, Donald Trump would have lost the popular vote but won the electoral vote. In the 20 percent mitigation scenario, the electoral vote would have been tied, giving Trump a presumptive victory in the House of Representatives. For the second time in a row (and the third time since 2000), the candidate who lost the popular vote would have been elected president of the United States.
- Topic:
- Government, Politics, Elections, Donald Trump, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America