The media is covering Bob Woodward's new book as a major scandal and as a big bombshell. Admittedly, it is disturbing to find out that President Trump clearly knew how dangerous the coronavirus was back in January, but chose to downplay it. It is also outrageously stupid for him to conduct 18 interviews with Bob Woodward during an election year. He clearly has no idea what a book by Bob Woodward is.

This being said, it will have close to zero impact on the election. It is obviously not good news for Trump and it will probably make him lose a day and a news cycle. But I doubt it will have much influence beyond that. Donald Trump's approval ratings have been remarkably stable somewhere between 42% and 44% throughout his term and despite all scandals. I doubt this one would move the needle.

If I imagined a focus group with swing voters, I highly doubt they would have even heard about Woodward's book, let alone be influenced by it. Who cares about who knew what and when? I would assume that swing voters care about the fact that the number of new infections is now going down (rapidly) and how to get the country's economy back on its feet.