President Trump Bows to Reality: This Week in the 2020 Race

Welcome to our weekly analysis of the state of the 2020 campaign.

The week in numbers

Fox News released polls from Michigan, Pennsylvania and Minnesota showing President Trump trailing Joe Biden by anywhere from 9 to 13 percentage points.

A Quinnipiac University poll of Florida registered voters found Biden leading Trump by 13 points.

They were neck-and-neck in a Quinnipiac poll of Texas registered voters.

Trump’s approval rating dropped to 39 percent nationwide in an ABC News/Washington Post survey, his lowest point in that poll this year.

Most Americans worry that sending children back to school could be dangerous, a range of polls showed. In an Associated Press/NORC poll, 80 percent of respondents said they were at least somewhat concerned.

Trump spent $9.5 million on television ads while Biden spent $7.5 million.

On Facebook, Trump is outspending Biden, $2.2 million to $530,000.

Catch me up

This was the week when President Trump started looking like he was facing reality about America’s coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday he tweeted a picture of himself wearing a face mask — something he had long resisted — and encouraged the country to join. At a Tuesday news conference, he said the virus would likely “get worse before it gets better,” instead of acting like the worst was in the rearview mirror. His news briefings were shorter and less antagonistic than those in the spring. He spoke of setting a good example for the country.

But Mr. Trump’s attempt at a Covid Reset for his presidency — in the face of soaring cases, as well as his falling poll numbers — raises two important questions:

How long will it last?

Will many people believe it?

The president usually reverts to combative form after a seeming change in tone, a pattern of behavior that helped make him famous — and now endangers his re-election. His response to the pandemic has been widely panned by Americans in public polling and public health experts, who say these actions should have come in March or April, not July. About 145,000 Americans have already died.