# A coronavirus pandemic provides a HUGE opportunity for Democrats **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 28, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630 "2020-02-28T02:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/101 "2020-03-03T13:06:11Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Before you use this crisis to promote Medicare for All, you might want to wait and see how the health systems in Canada, the UK, and other places with single payer do. Canada hasn’t really been affected yet, but from what I’m hearing about the NHS, it’s already having problems. > > When asking people to compare systems, you’d better first make sure the comparison helps your case. In the U.S. system, if you want to be tested for the coronavirus, you’re on the hook for the bill. How do you get more stupid than that? Oh yeah, and this: [Coronavirus Confusion: Miami Woman Allegedly Denied Proper Testing - CBS Miami](https://miami.cbslocal.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus-confusion-miami-woman-allegedly-denied-proper-testing/) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/102 "2020-03-03T14:54:47Z")
Speaking of coronavirus testing, there’s [this from a TPM reader](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/kirkland-washington-coronavirus-covid-19) from Kirkland, Washington: > [@](#): > > Thought you might be curious to hear from someone who lives about 500 yards from the nursing care facility and down the street from the hospital at ground zero. > > People here are actually quite calm and normal. There are grocery store runs on staples and you can’t get any hand sanitizer. As parents we feel doomed that open schools will mean inevitable spread to everyone. > > The scandal is that no one is offering our community coordinated testing. We are totally in the dark about how widespread this is going to be. We are being given advice to avoid contact but go about our normal days, which is useless because it is contradictory and also it is advice given without any knowledge of the extent of the spread. > > The national press briefings are clownish when people are dying a football field away from you. To hear every briefing kick off with a celebration of the President is insulting beyond belief to people living in an outbreak zone. Everyone should be hammering the administration for community wide testing and should be asking Trump right to his face when it will begin. Over and over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/103 "2020-03-03T15:57:14Z")
Trump does not like tests. He’ll probably pay someone to take his test for him. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/104 "2020-03-03T16:33:21Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Before you use this crisis to promote Medicare for All, you might want to wait and see how the health systems in Canada, the UK, and other places with single payer do. Canada hasn’t really been affected yet, but from what I’m hearing about the NHS, it’s already having problems. > > When asking people to compare systems, you’d better first make sure the comparison helps your case. My question on this is whether in Canada you can expect poor workers who feel respiratory illnesses to continue going to work, because they lack sick leave and can’t afford to take an unpaid day or to risk losing their jobs? Can you expect to be served at restraurants by sniffly workers? Can you expect your groceries to be checked out by someone with a fever? US health policy has some unique features that are very pandemic-friendly. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/105 "2020-03-03T17:19:12Z")
Here’s an interesting prediction: [Pence to be dumped from ticket on July 16, 2020](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-begala-donald-trump-mike-pence_n_5e5dffb4c5b67ed38b37bde1) > [@](#): > > “He’s going to dump Mike Pence and put Nikki Haley on the ticket to try to get those suburban moms,” Begala said. “You watch. Guaranteed.” > > Trump has already laid the groundwork for dismissing Pence. > > “Trump put Pence in charge of coronavirus to throw him under the bus,” Begala said. Interesting. It wraps up things pretty tidy: the admiration between the two is certainly not mutual. He’d like to get Haley on the ticket to attempt to appeal to women, and putting Pence in charge of corona means that there will be an excuse to dump him. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/106 "2020-03-03T19:17:51Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Here’s an interesting prediction: [Pence to be dumped from ticket on July 16, 2020](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-begala-donald-trump-mike-pence_n_5e5dffb4c5b67ed38b37bde1) > > Interesting. It wraps up things pretty tidy: the admiration between the two is certainly not mutual. He’d like to get Haley on the ticket to attempt to appeal to women, and putting Pence in charge of corona means that there will be an excuse to dump him. Wouldn’t that risk the whole Evangelical vote? Not that they’d vote D, but they might be pissed enough to stay home. That could swing Indiana (especially), Iowa and other states to the D candidate. Haley might be anti-abortion and all, but she’s hardly the Christian warrior Pence makes himself out to be. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/107 "2020-03-03T19:46:07Z")
Evangelicals are completely in the tank for Trump, as little sense as that makes. My son lives in the eastern Seattle suburb right next to Kirkland, and he too is reporting that people are worried but that they are also not really taking extreme measures. I would be completely freaking out except that he is 20 years old and in good health. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/108 "2020-03-03T19:59:03Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Wouldn’t that risk the whole Evangelical vote? Not that they’d vote D, but they might be pissed enough to stay home. That could swing Indiana (especially), Iowa and other states to the D candidate. Haley might be anti-abortion and all, but she’s hardly the Christian warrior Pence makes himself out to be. It seems to me that the least of his worries are the Evangelicals. They’re 1 justice away from overturning Roe and they would never vote D no matter who wears the D or R jerseys. I’m not sure how popular Pence really is in Indiana, but if it’s close enough to where Indiana is in play, it’s going to be a really rough election for Republicans. I’m not sure I buy the dumping Pence theory, but I do find it interesting. It would be funny that after four years of battling Lindsey Graham in the ass-kissing contest that he’d be cast aside like an old shoe. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/109 "2020-03-05T18:14:30Z")
New poll regarding the _politics_ of Covfefe-19: [https://www.protectourcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-Poll-Memo-And-Results-3-20.pdf](https://www.protectourcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-Poll-Memo-And-Results-3-20.pdf) (PDF link) From the summary: > [@](#): > > Voters take the virus a lot more seriously than the president does. Only 8% of voters agree with Trump’s claim that the virus is a Democratic hoax, while 82% think the virus is real. Only 16% of Trump’s own voters agree with him that the virus is a hoax. > > Trump’s handling of the coronavirus could threaten his reelection. **By a 20-point margin, voters say his administration’s handling of the virus makes them less likely to vote for him this fall. Independents say they’re less likely to vote for Trump by 32 points because of how he’s dealt with this issue.** Only 37% of voters agree with Trump’s assessment that his administration is doing a “great job” dealing with the coronavirus, while 53% disagree. > > Voters are also concerned about the administration’s failure to commit to an affordable coronavirus vaccine – 67% of voters have serious concerns about the administration’s statement that “they can’t control that price.” 61% of voters also have serious concerns with the administration’s advice –“tell people to turn their televisions off for 24 hours” – in response to the historic decline in the stock market. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/110 "2020-03-05T22:18:31Z")
Great poll, although to be fair to Trump (not a phrase you’ll often hear me say), his “hoax” characterization was not about the virus itself, but about Democratic claims that he has mishandled it. (I don’t think that’s a hoax either, but it’s more arguable.) ETA: Do I really mind if swing voters think Trump called the virus itself a “hoax”? No. No I do not. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/111 "2020-03-06T02:48:55Z")
It’s fine that educated presidential intestines can outsmart all them fancy-pants doctors and experts who’ve worked on virus shit like this all their careers. We know who to trust, for sure - guts will lead us to safety. Flatulate onward! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/112 "2020-03-06T15:25:40Z")
Typical! Take a perfectly normal decision making technique, and pretend it something irrational! Its not something stupid like “feminine intuition”, Il Douche specifically called it a “hunch”. You know, like a dog does to a leg… ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/113 "2020-03-06T15:40:17Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > It’s fine that educated presidential intestines can outsmart all them fancy-pants doctors and experts who’ve worked on virus shit like this all their careers. We know who to trust, for sure - guts will lead us to safety. Flatulate onward! You have to admit he’s got the most impressive gut since William Howard Taft. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/114 "2020-03-06T17:10:49Z")
This poll to me illustrates the danger of using COVID-19 politically at this point. Trumps say and does so many very ignorant and stupid things. There is no need to distort what he says like this does and doing that is a bad move. Saw another one in which a HuffPo article was saying that Trump was advising people to work with COVID-19. He did not say that. He was making the not unreasonable point that it appears there are some large number of people without risk factors who have very mild disease, and may even be working unawares. How he managed to say something accurate I don’t know! But it was not a recommendation for people to do that. There is a very good possibility that by April new cases will be falling off with a low case fatality rate as milder cases get added into the denominator with wide spread testing, less than seasonal influenza (likely to remerge in the late Fall in a less virulent form). Democrats would be idiotic to say things that make Trump look right and them wrong if that is what happens. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/115 "2020-03-06T18:41:53Z")
So. even a coffin can have a silver lining? And that last part? Why is it likely that a less virulent form will emerge? Do we actually know any of that? Do we know that a survivor of corona will acquire immunity to _all_ its forms? We do know that a sudden disappearance or a mutation to a milder form is possible, but what do we actually know about how likely that is? No snark intended, but how do we know what the virus will do, or even hazard a educated guess? It could happen just like Il Douche suggests, and he will move at warp speed to claim credit. True, a massive pandemic of fatality might doom his re-election chances, but am I willing to pay that price? Gimme a minute…no. Wait, how “massive”? No, still no! Bad brain, stop! ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/116 "2020-03-06T18:52:15Z")
The virus is inevitably going to claim more lives. For ordinary people, COVID-19 isn’t particularly life-threatening, but for people with weakened lungs and for people over the age of 70, it’s extremely dangerous, and there will be more cases. We’re too late in terms of controlling the vectors. We should have been testing for it on a much wider scale than we have been, and at least 3-4 weeks earlier. Health officials assumed it probably wouldn’t be much of a factor outside of China and we’re paying the price for it now, and will probably for another 3-6 weeks. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/117 "2020-03-06T19:05:50Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > The virus is inevitably going to claim more lives. For ordinary people, COVID-19 isn’t particularly life-threatening, but for people with weakened lungs and for people over the age of 70, it’s extremely dangerous, and there will be more cases. We’re too late in terms of controlling the vectors. We should have been testing for it on a much wider scale than we have been, and at least 3-4 weeks earlier. Health officials assumed it probably wouldn’t be much of a factor outside of China and we’re paying the price for it now, and will probably for another 3-6 weeks. Age 71 here. Now wearing gloves when I use the SDMB. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/118 "2020-03-06T19:45:12Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > So. even a coffin can have a silver lining? > > And that last part? Why is it likely that a less virulent form will emerge? Do we actually know any of that? Do we know that a survivor of corona will acquire immunity to _all_ its forms? We do know that a sudden disappearance or a mutation to a milder form is possible, but what do we actually know about how likely that is? > > No snark intended, but how do we know what the virus will do, or even hazard a educated guess? It could happen just like Il Douche suggests, and he will move at warp speed to claim credit. True, a massive pandemic of fatality might doom his re-election chances, but am I willing to pay that price? Gimme a minute…no. Wait, how “massive”? No, still no! Bad brain, stop! We don’t “know” … that is why I phrased it as “a very good possibility”. _Likely_ yes, just because of evolutionary pressure: less virulent versions tends to outcompete more virulent forms because they do not lay up their hosts; those minimally ill go to work, parties, bars … As it spreads it leaves fewer susceptible to the more virulent form in its wake, at least until the mutations are great enough at the key locations. Long term view is that cornaviruses have likely been crossing over from long before we’ve recognized them as such, not just in the last twenty years. There have been no Spanish flu coronavirus years. My hypothesis is that the deaths from those events, likely tens to hundreds of thousands globally, have been just lost as statistical noise in the background of seasonal flu morbidity and mortality year on year variation in the past. No need to repeat discussions had elsewhere on these boards. NO QUESTION that there are great unknowns about this and attempting to prevent or at least delay its spread as much as is reasonably possible is worthwhile. It is also prudent to be prepared for worst case scenarios even if they are unlikely. I have every expectation that I am not going to be hit by a car today on my bike but I wear my helmet anyway. I don’t expect to be in a car accident but I always wear my seatbelts. A minimal expectation is having the equal of an additional mild flu season on top of regular flu season, through the end of this flu season and into next. That is a bad enough storm to be braced for, and Trump’s mishandlings will make the consequences of that alone worse. If I am being excessively optimistic it _might_ end up worse than that and we need to be ready for such. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/119 "2020-03-06T20:03:29Z")
Nobody is ‘using’ COVID-19 politically, but the argument that it shouldn’t have political ramifications is, well, naive. I mean, we are rapidly approaching a point where, because of our bungled response to this, other countries may decide to prevent US citizens from flying in. Regardless of the real-world effects such a decision may have, it will also have a _political_ impact as well. And distorting what the President says? lol, this has been a thing in this country since 1790. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/120 "2020-03-06T23:10:38Z")
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