And finally, it’s Trump vs Biden

After emitting a brief spark of promise in early February, the Sanders campaign seemed to ride on improbable hope, before he came to terms with the inevitable. With the coronavirus pandemic, the increasing doubts about President Trump’s ability to handle it, the prospect of growing unemployment, and shocks to the capitalist system, this was arguably Sanders’ best chance. But at the end of the day, the Sanders coalition of the devoted, the young, and the unquestioning, failed to expand its electoral base – particularly in the suburbs and among the black and the elderly.

The challenge before former Vice-President Biden now is two-fold – to win over the Sanders’ support base, which sees him and what he represents as part of a status-quoist establishment, and to present an effective challenge to Trump. Some opinion polls have shown Biden ahead of Trump, and this despite the recent bump in the latter’s approval ratings following the coronavirus outbreak, an increase which has been interpreted widely as a kind of solidarity vote with the leader in the time of crisis. But this is an election that is set to take place against the backdrop of a pandemic that has dominated the headlines, in fact, pushed all other news to the wide margins. So, it is entirely possible that the election may be fought less on other issues such as healthcare, which hogged considerable attention in the Biden-Sanders race for the nomination.

As a result of this, it is difficult to predict the shape and the contours of the election campaign from here on. Much may depend on how America deals with the coronavirus outbreak and how Trump’s effectiveness is perceived in tackling the public health crisis. The US President of course will hope to exploit the divide within the Democrats, the depth of which was starkly illustrated by Sanderssupporting Leftist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s groan: “In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party, but in America we are.” Until now, Biden has been somewhat restrained in attacking Trump, focussing on the Democratic race and probably not wanting to sound too discordant during the pandemic. But as the date nears, the gloves will be off in what will be in some ways, the most unusual US presidential election ever.