Did Covid-19 Cost Trump the Election?

A common narrative is that COVID-19 cost Trump re-election. We do not find supporting evidence; if anything, the pandemic helped Trump. However, we find substantial evidence that voters abandoned Trump in counties with large increases in health insurance coverage since the Affordable Care Act, presumably fearing the roll-back of such expansion. Absent this effect, our estimates imply Trump would been on the precipice of re-election by winning Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, and only losing Wisconsin by a few thousand votes. Finally, while US trade war tariffs boosted Trump’s support, foreign trade war tariffs and US agricultural subsidies had little effect.