Trump campaign to focus on attacking Biden instead of promoting his pandemic response

The decision by top campaign advisers, which has met pushback from some White House officials and donors, reflects polling showing a declining approval rating for Trump among key groups and growing openness to supporting Biden in recent weeks, according to officials familiar with the data who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The shift represents a remarkable acknowledgment by aides to a self-described “wartime president,” leading during what might have been a rally-around-the-flag moment, to ­effectively decide it is better to go on the attack than focus on his own achievements. Campaign polling found more than three-quarters of voters blamed China for the coronavirus outbreak, underscoring the potential benefits of tying the presumptive Democratic nominee to ­Beijing…

Conway, who remains in the West Wing, has emerged as a critic of the campaign team’s decision to focus on China. And some who have seen newly produced anti-Biden ads — which largely feature footage of the former vice president making comments about China and a potential travel ban — have derided them as weak. As of Friday afternoon, Trump had not given the final green light to the ads, officials said, and the president sometimes vacillates on his position toward China…

“Positive ads add nothing to him,” said a Trump campaign official familiar with the internal polling who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. “It’s not going to get us more votes.”