Elections Chief Inspector Mary Magdalen Moser runs a polling location in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on April 7. Photo: Derek R. Henkle/AFP via Getty Images
Thousands of Wisconsin residents gathered to cast ballots in person on Tuesday in the state's primary election during the height of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S.
Why it matters: More than 300 million Americans in nearly all states are being asked to stay home as the U.S. faces surging death tolls from COVID-19. Without a vaccine, stay-at-home orders and lockdowns to enforce social distancing are among the few ways to slow the spread of the virus.
A line outside Hamilton High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 7. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/ AFP via Getty ImagesA couple checks in behind a plastic barrier to cast ballots at the Kenosha Bible Church gym in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on April 7. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/ AFP via Getty ImagesA woman casts her ballot at the Hamilton High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 7. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/ AFP via Getty ImagesPeople wait in line to vote at Hamilton High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 7. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/ AFP via Getty ImagesA woman votes from her car at a drive-up polling place outside the Hamilton High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 7. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/ AFP via Getty ImagesAn election observer cleans a voting booth at the Kenosha Bible Church gym in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on April 7. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/ AFP via Getty ImagesVoters wait in line to enter a polling place at Riverside University High School on April 7. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesAn aerial view of voters waiting in line outside Riverside University High School on April 7. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesVoters wait in line outside Riverside University High School on April 7. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesVoters wait in line outside Riverside University High School on April 7. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Data: Hamilton Place Strategies, CivicScience; Chart: Axios Visuals
The rise in coronavirus cases in certain parts of the U.S. is stunting confidence across the country, a crop of new reports show.
Driving the news: After stalling during the previous two-week period, overall economic sentiment declined for the first time in two months, according to the Economic Sentiment Index, a biweekly survey from data firm CivicScience and Hamilton Place Strategies (HPS).
Republicans, win or lose next week, face a big — and growing — math problem.
The state of play: They're relying almost exclusively on a shrinking demographic (white men), living in shrinking areas (small, rural towns), creating a reliance on people with shrinking incomes (white workers without college degrees) to survive.