Coronavirus expected to dominate 2020 election

WASHINGTON (SBG) - The spread of the coronavirus has changed the way we live, the way we work and yes,the way we vote. Many are now wondering, when it comes time to head to the polls in November, will anything else be on voters' minds?

"If this election is going to be a referendum on the president as opposed to a choice between Biden and Trump, Biden may prefer the referendum and Trump may prefer the choice," saidKyle Kondik, with the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

In an interview this week, Kondik added that topics that once dominated the headlines, like the Mueller Report or impeachment hearings, have faded away.

There is mounting evidence the pandemic has already transformed the 2020 race, with 16 primary elections delayed and questions about whether the National Conventions will even take place. It's also changed the basics of campaigning, said Ronna McDaniel, Chair of the Republican National Committee.

“To not be able to knock doors, to have rallies, to have trainings, all the things you do in retail politics have shifted to virtual," said McDaniel in an interview with Sinclair. "We’ve been conducting trainings online and registering voters online."

Hanging over the 2020 campaign is the coronavirus and another "C" word -- China. It seems both President Trump and Joe Biden are betting being toughest on China is a winning strategy.

"There’s a lot of public opinion data that says the public is very suspicious of China throughout this process and that there’s a lot of blame to go to China, so you’re seeing both sides try to weaponize that against the others," said Kondik.

In a recently released Biden campaign ad, President Trump is criticized for his response to China in the wake of the pandemic.

A voice says, "Trump praised the Chinese 15 times in January and February as the coronavirus spread across the globe."

Trump has also criticized Biden as well, trying to tie and his son Hunter to the country.

In it, a voice says, "Biden’s son inked a billion dollar deal with a subsidiary of the Bank of China." Then it uses Biden's own words: "It is in our self-interest that China continues to prosper."

Now, as some in the United States and around the world are mobilizing to sue China for its response to the early outbreak of COVID-19, the country remains in the cross-hairs for presidential candidates as well.