President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have announced they have tested positive for COVID-19.
Matthew Lebo, the Chair of Western University’s Department of Political Science, is available to comment on what the news means to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, now just more than a month away.
Lebo says:
“It appears they likely contracted the virus from aid Hope Hicks and throughout the day we can expect a rush of testing for others in the White House as well as for former Vice-President Joe Biden, who met with President Trump on stage about 50 hours before the announcement.
“With 33 days until Election Day, the President’s health will now be a central focus of both campaigns and news coverage.”
Lebo, who previously served as Chair of the Department of Political Science and Director of the Center for Behavioral Political Economy at Stony Brook University (New York), is an expert on the presidency, political parties, elections and Congress.
His book on the state of party politics in the United States, Strategic Party Government: Why Winning Trumps Ideology, written with Greg Koger, was published in 2017.
Commentary reflects the perspective and scholarly interest of Western faculty members and is not an articulation of official university policy on issues being addressed.
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