Trump pollster says Covid-19, not voter fraud, to blame for reelection loss

Voters felt President Joe Biden was "better to handle coronavirus" than Trump, according to a post-2020 election analysis of publicly available survey data from Trump's campaign pollster, Tony Fabrizio. The pandemic "was the most important issue" among voters in 10 key states and that Biden carried those voters "nearly 3 to 1," Fabrizio says in a 27-page analysis which rests on average results from the National Election Pool exit polls conducted for CNN and other media as well as AP's VoteCast.

"While (Trump) dominated among voters focused on the economy, Biden won Coronavirus voters, which was a bigger share of the electorate," said the report, which was dated December 2020. It came to light on Monday night after Politico first reported on it.

The 10 states Fabrizio focused on were Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. Biden and Trump each won five. Though his job approval was mixed in those 10 states, Trump "earned negative marks on handling of Coronavirus," the report said.

Three-quarters of voters in the 10 states favored mask mandates and "Biden ran up the score with this large majority of voters," according to the report. Trump had often declined to wear a facial covering in public, at one point mocking mask-wearing, and had opposed a federal mask mandate.

Fabrizio also concluded that "Biden held a double-digit advantage over POTUS" on whether voters found the candidate honest or trustworthy, although the majority of voters didn't perceive either candidate that way.

Fabrizio also said Americans overwhelmingly trusted the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, on the pandemic, with a "3 to 1 positive job approval" for his handling of it.

Fauci detractors voted overwhelmingly for Trump, the report said, but "Fauci supporters voted for Biden by wide margins."