Coronavirus hits Florida economy in threat to Trump's re-election hopes

POLITICS MARCH 18, 2020 / 7:02 AM / UPDATED 8 MINUTES AGO

KISSIMMEE, Florida (Reuters) - Since the coronavirus outbreak hit Florida this month, Uber driver Nelson Aliaga has lost a third of his business.

But by dismissing for weeks the danger posed by the virus, President Donald Trump did not respond quickly enough to the crisis, said Aliaga, a Republican who voted for Trump in 2016.

Aliaga, who makes a living shuttling tourists around the Orlando area, is now leaning toward voting for Joe Biden in the November presidential election, if the former vice president becomes the Democratic nominee.

“I’m pretty sure I’m not going to vote for him,” Aliaga said of Trump as he stood outside a polling station near Orlando as his son, a Democrat, voted in Tuesday’s Democratic nominating contest. Biden won the state in a landslide victory over Senator Bernie Sanders.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-coronavirus-florida/coronavirus-hits-florida-economy-in-threat-to-trumps-re-election-hopes-idUSKBN2151DB