The Republicans wasted no time in nominating US President Donald Trump as their presidential nominee on the first day of their convention, which began on Monday. The convention, just like the Democratic convention that took place last week, was devoid of audiences, but delegates met in Charlotte, North Carolina, to nominate Trump.

The speakers talked about various issues -- from dealing with racism to the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the talking points was racism, with former US Ambassador to the UN Nikkei Haley and Senator Tim Scott, giving passionate speeches about how the nation was not racist, and how the ‘American Dream’ was still alive.

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Another talking point was Joe Biden and how the Democrats will turn the US into a socialist nation. Claiming that the Democratic nominee Joe Biden was weak on China, Donald Trump Jr. called him “Beijing Biden”. He criticised Biden's views on immigration, trade deals and called him the “Loch Ness Monster of the Swamp”.

Defending performance

Taking on the criticism that he had dropped the ball in his handling of the Covid pandemic, Trump, who appeared in a video with health care workers and first responders, took the fight to the Democrats. One of the arguments put forward in the video was that the media, the World Health Organisation and Democrats downplayed the threat the virus posed initially, and that it was Trump who tried to contain the spread of the virus by banning travel from China. It also credited Trump for taking quick action to provide economic relief to the people.

However, this is unlikely to find resonance with the general electorate. A poll by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago's NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that only 31 per cent approved of Trump's response to the virus, while 68 per cent disapproved. This is a steep fall from March, when 44 per cent of Americans approved of the president's response. This is likely to be the key factor which will decide this presidential election.

This was not the only point of worry for the party: Trump’s job approval ratings are poor, with 65 per cent disapproving of his performance. Over 95 per cent of Democrats disapproved and 73 per cent of Independents disapproved of his performance.

Base still strong

But another poll showed that Republicans are happy with the Trump administration. The CBS News/YouGov poll claimed that 75 per cent of Republicans feel that the US was better off now compared to four years ago; an overwhelming majority (83 per cent) said they are also happy with Trump.

They also believe that that the condition of the national economy is good (67 per cent) compared to the rest of the voters (35 per cent), and that the nation was dealing with coronavirus is going well (73 per cent vs. 38 per cent). These results show that Trump’s base is happy with this performance and that could help Trump clinch the election.

Another factor that could help Trump win the election is that Republicans support the party because of its ideology (58 per cent), and then because they dislike the Democrats (42 per cent). This again means that they are less likely to vote against the party.

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