7m
26 Oct 2020

Trump pins his hopes on victory in coal country despite Biden poll lead

Washington Correspondent

Welcome to Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, where President Trump is due to fly in for his third rally of the day in the state.

Why here? Because he won Pennsylvania by a slither in 2016 and if he wants to stay in the White House has to win it again.

Like four years ago, the polls have Trump losing here and Joe Biden was born in Western Pennsylvania,

But this is coal country. Coal loves Trump and vice versa. And the Trump campaign are confident that they can win this state.

If elections were decided on voter enthusiasm alone, then their optimism might well be justified. And hardly anyone we saw today is wearing a mask. Covid is not a big issue here. Or as one person told us: Covid is a conspiracy to bring down the President.

Mr Trump has been speaking to big crowds here in Pennsylvania, mocking what he called Joe Biden’s “agenda of doom and gloom and depression and despair”,  and downplaying talk of a winter made long and difficult by the pandemic.