An Ailing Republic: How Covid-19 Affected the 2020 Presidential Election

Abstract

The United States presidential election is an event that surpasses all others in American politics. Since the beginning of the American “experiment”, the presidency has served as the most visible and recognizable branch of the federal government, symbolizing not only the prestige and strength of the country but also its people’s dedication to transitory political power. The SARS-CoV-2 (abbreviated Covid-19) pandemic began its rampage through the world during the 2020 exercise of one of these quadrennial elections and came to dominate all arenas of life rapidly throughout the course of that year. This thesis will attempt to tease out some of the political effects of that pandemic, specifically its impacts on the presidential election of 2020. The results of four regression models provide some insight into the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. From the results it is clear that while higher rates of Republican voting were associated with higher rates of Covid-19 infection, there is little evidence that this relationship caused any voter shift away from Trump.