Name-calling seems to be part of poll plan in US

United States President Donald Trump will blame China for anything that he can in order to win the upcoming presidential election, according to Gayle Allard, professor of Economics from IE University, Madrid, Spain.

"This is his strategy and it is not limited to China, but to anyone that he can attack publicly and win votes by doing so: immigrants, Democrats, protesters, etc," Allard said, noting that Trump's rhetoric will become more intense in the next few months.

"This will unlikely make a difference in the election, however," she said. "Recent surveys show that Trump is very unpopular with most Americans due to his poor handling of the COVID(-19) pandemic and the onset of a very severe recession."

According a tally kept by the Johns Hopkins University, as of Sunday, over 169,400 people have now died of COVID-19 in the US and there are over 5 million cases.

A recent media report by Vox said the United States "has failed" to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, with case counts far ahead of other developed nations and more than 1,000 deaths reported a day for over two weeks and counting," said the report titled "America's uniquely bad COVID-19 epidemic, explained in 18 maps and charts".

"It didn't have to be this way. In March and April, other developed countries had significant COVID-19 outbreaks, but they did a much better job than the US in containing the coronavirus and keeping it down after the virus arrived," the report said.

"So while some other developed nations have experienced upticks, they all pale in comparison to the massive surge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths that the US has seen since May and June," it said.

"Now America is stuck with the consequences, with the death toll likely to climb by the tens of thousands in the next few weeks, and the possibility of another shutdown looming larger as the country heads into the fall and winter," it said.

Commenting on the global handling of the pandemic, Allard said: "There have been a great variety of responses to the pandemic in Western developed countries. Some, like Denmark, New Zealand, Germany have been very successful, while others like the UK or the United States have been less successful."

Further, she said: "The key appears to be willingness to support government measures, and good scientific input driving government decisions. Some countries have failed to respond correctly due to political considerations: harsh measures might make them unpopular and cause them to lose elections."

Trump will go head-to-head with Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden when Americans go to the polls on Nov 3 to decide who will sit at the White House.

But there are still issues that will need to be resolved between the two sides, such as intellectual property rights, which have been straining Sino-US relations and will continue to do so if not addressed, she said.

"The new administration …can be expected to pressure for change in this issue, though their style and approach will be different," she added.

Xinhua contributed to this story.