What Went Down During The Vice Presidential Debate

I do think Pence’s line of defense here — “we trust Americans to make their own choices,” “we don’t want to tell people to do” — is maybe their best argument on COVID-19? It’s at least philosophically Republican.

Given what most polling has shown about what America thinks about Trump and Pence on coronavirus, every minute spent talking about it is probably a lost minute for Pence. I don’t think the specific spin is going to make much difference.

In an Ipsos/ABC News poll taken Friday and Saturday, after Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis, 72 percent of Americans said that Trump had not taken the risk of contracting the disease seriously enough, while 27 percent disagreed. In the same poll, 72 percent of Americans said Trump had not taken appropriate precautions when it came to his personal health.