The Charlotte Convention Center hosts the Republican National Convention this week.
Photo: leah millis/ReutersWASHINGTON—Republicans will use their national convention this week to defend some in-person activities as essential to keeping the economy humming, setting up a contrast with Democrats’ calls to keep Americans at home if the coronavirus pandemic worsens.
The competing notions preview a theme heading into the fall as President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden step up their campaigning. The two sides are placing different bets on Americans’ willingness to stay home to curb the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
In an ABC News interview slated to air Sunday night, Mr. Biden said he would be prepared to take more drastic federal measures to close off the economy if it meant controlling the spread of the virus.
“I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives, because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus. That is the fundamental flaw of this administration’s thinking to begin with,” said Mr. Biden, a former vice president. Asked what he would do if the virus was spreading along with the flu by January, when he would be inaugurated if he won, Mr. Biden responded: “I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.”
Ronna McDaniel, the head of the Republican National Committee, cast Mr. Biden’s comments as an unrealistic view for many Americans. She said that at the Republican convention this week, there will be testing for in-person events and presented that as a model for engaging in large-scale social activities during the pandemic.
“We are doing the things that are allowing people to live their lives, have a convention and do it in a healthy and safe way,” Ms. McDaniel said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “This is a realistic way of opening up our country and doing it in a healthy and safe way. And the Democrats are saying, shut it all down. Well, that’s easy for Hollywood celebrities and privileged politicians, but that’s not good for average Americans.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.), one of Mr. Biden’s confidants, said Mr. Biden would as president convince Americans it was the right thing to save lives, despite any negative effects on the economy. “If public-health officials say that’s the only way forward, he’s willing to do it. He’s willing to lead,” Mr. Coons said on Fox News Sunday.
New coronavirus cases in the U.S. continued to drift lower Saturday, staying below 50,000 for the eighth straight day. Total U.S. coronavirus cases rose to nearly 5.7 million, just under a quarter of the global tally, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. death toll surpassed 176,300, the highest level of any nation.
Ms. McDaniel said the president would travel to North Carolina, where the RNC is taking place, though she didn’t specifically say whether Mr. Trump would be in Charlotte, the event’s host city. The Democrats had long planned for their convention to take place in Milwaukee but asked party officials to stay home and conduct the convention virtually because of the pandemic. Mr. Biden gave his speech accepting his party’s nomination from his hometown of Wilmington, Del., in lieu of traveling to Milwaukee. Republican aides say Mr. Trump plans to speak every night of the Republican convention and deliver his speech accepting the GOP nomination from the White House residence.
Several Republicans, including Ms. McDaniel and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, described the Democratic convention as overly focused on Mr. Trump’s record and less so on how Mr. Biden would govern. Aides said Mr. Trump would present the nation’s coronavirus response in a positive light.
“Last week, it was a massive grievance fest. We didn’t hear about the vision for the future, how their policies would help people,” said Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign. “But you’re going to see a great, uplifting message from the president and from our allies,” he said.
Ms. McDaniel said the Trump administration’s decision in late January to impose entry restrictions on foreign nationals and quarantines on Americans returning from areas of China where the virus was spreading “has saved lives.”
Democrats have said the federal government was unprepared to respond to the virus, noting the magnitude of the Covid-19 cases and deaths in the U.S. compared with other developed nations.
Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Ind., mayor who competed against Mr. Biden in the Democratic presidential primary, said Democrats sought to highlight “the failed leadership of this president” during their convention.
“Our country is doing the worst of any developed nation when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus,” said Mr. Buttigieg on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Mr. Trump heads into this week’s convention with national polls showing him trailing in his race for re-election, lagging behind Mr. Biden by 9 percentage points in this month’s WSJ/NBC News poll. Mr. Biden has also cut into Mr. Trump’s fundraising advantage, despite the president’s yearslong head start. However, there are signs that Mr. Trump can increase turnout among his base—namely white men without college degrees—to make the race more competitive with Mr. Biden in key swing states.
Mr. Miller, the Trump campaign adviser, nodded to that reality Sunday on NBC. “We’re conserving money right now and focusing a little bit more smartly and a little more effectively on the states that are voting early,” Mr. Miller said.
Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
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