Autopsy Report: Coronavirus Cost Donald Trump Reelection

An autopsy report on former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign demonstrates that voters’ perception of his coronavirus response affected his support in key swing states he won in 2016 but lost in 2020.

The report, which Trump’s chief campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio drafted, shows the coronavirus was the most important issue of the 2020 election.

The report comes from an analysis of exit polling in ten states — Five states Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020; Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania and five states Trump won in 2016 and held in 2020; Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas.

Politico first published the 27-page report.

Sixty percent of voters in states that flipped to Biden prioritized stopping the spread of the coronavirus over the growth of the economy while 40 percent felt the opposite way. The margins in states Trump held were slightly lower at 57 to 43.

In states that flipped to the Democrats, 42 percent of voters said controlling the spread of the coronavirus was the number one issue while only 28 percent chose the economy.

Seventy-three percent of voters in states that flipped blue supported Biden on handling the coronavirus while only 26 percent believed Trump was handling it better.

Voters overwhelmingly favored Trump on the economy, giving him a 69 percent lead over Biden on the issue, though they felt stopping the virus was more important.

In red states Trump held, a slight majority of voters felt he had the virus under control, but in states Democrats flipped, a majority of voters felt the opposite.