'Anyone but Trump': Coronavirus bungling could cost president key state in 2020 election

President Donald Trump's mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis could cost him one of the states he needs to win re-election.

Trump supporters in Pennsylvania say the president's handling of the pandemic has shaken their faith, and they're not sure they can back him again in November, reported NBC News.

"How he's doing with this doesn't give me any confidence," said Corey Ingram, a 42-year-old inspector at a military equipment manufacturer. "The rejection of science, the constant disagreeing with his experts."

“After this,” the Spring Grove independent said, “anyone but Trump.”

Pennsylvania had the fifth-most confirmed cases of COVID-19 and fifth-most deaths in the U.S. as of Wednesday night, and the pandemic has wiped out 1.3 million jobs -- the second-highest number, after California.

“Trump won here in 2016 because he ran as a disruptor, but in a crisis like this, even if he were performing strongly, people are going to want a stabilizer in the White House,” said Phil English, a former Republican congressman from Erie.

“The stakes have changed,” he added. “Pennsylvania has been put into a much more challenging position, or at least demands a totally different strategy, for the president to keep it in his column.”

An April 1 poll showed 49 percent of Pennsylvania voters disapproved of Trump's handling of the pandemic, compared to 46 percent who approved, and latest RealClearPolitics polling average shows Joe Biden beating the president in the state by 47.8 percent to 43.2 percent.

Biden's path to victory isn't assured, of course, but his decades of government experience could be attractive to voters dissatisfied with Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Four years ago, I was feeling good about having a nonpolitician come in to shake things up,” Ingram said. “But reality has set in, and this specific incident has made clear to me we need someone who really knows the ropes.”