| POLITICS: Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign is sensing an opening with a group of voters it believes could prove crucial in the general election: senior citizens. Four years ago, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 7 points with voters older than 65, according to exit polls. But this year, as Amie Parnes writes, Biden advisers and allies have watched a continued erosion with these voters for Trump in multiple key states with sizable senior citizen populations, including Florida. A recent CNN poll lends credence to the thinking of Biden’s team, as it shows the former VP leading by 13 among voters who are 65 and older. “I think seniors are now going to be a problem for him,” one Biden aide predicted, referring to the president. “Regardless of which poll you believe, he is doing much better with seniors than [Clinton], which is a big deal and a big part of a winning coalition.” Voters of all stripes expect to see the two debate one another in the fall, especially after the president indicated he enthusiasm about the prospect. “I look forward to it also!” Trump tweeted at a supporter on Sunday night. Biden in The New York Times: My plan to safely reopen America. > Biden sexual assault? The New York Times examined a March 25 allegation by former Senate aide Tara Reade that then-Sen. Biden (D-Del.) sexually assaulted her in 1993. The Biden campaign says the accusation is false, and former Senate aides who were there at the time do not recall any complaint by the accuser about the alleged incident. > Coronavirus politics: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to turn the political tide against the president as he faces what he considers the biggest decision of his presidency: when and how to reopen the nation as it struggles economically. As Niall Stanage writes, recent polls show the public approval of Trump’s handling of the outbreak has fallen, while his overall approval ratings have also trended downward. Adding to the problems, the economic issues are creating more headaches, as roughly 16 million Americans have filed unemployment claims due to the virus, with more to come and untold others who have been furloughed. On the political side, the Democratic race wrapped up and Biden became the presumptive nominee after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ended his bid for the nomination, allowing Biden and the Democrats to focus on Trump exclusively. Julie Pace, The Associated Press: Will voters want a president who feels their pain? The New York Times: Biden and Cuomo: Friends, allies and supporting players no longer. The Associated Press: Trump’s fundraising slows amid outbreak, still sets records with $212 million raised in first three months. > Voting: The president has taken a hard stand against calls to expand alternatives to in-person voting amid the coronavirus pandemic, pushing the claim that mail-in voting risks “tremendous potential for fraud” and hands a structural advantage to Democrats. As Julia Manchester and Max Greenwood report, voting rights and elections experts say that there may be some truth to Trump’s claim, as mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud than traditional in-person voting. However, voter fraud in any form is exceedingly rare, the experts say, and there are security measures that can be taken to mitigate those risks. At the same time, they argued that policymakers should be wary of restricting an alternative to in-person voting that has the potential to expand the electorate and limit the spread of the coronavirus. The Hill: Pollsters find unexpected boon: Americans stuck at home willing to talk. 
© Getty Images *** CORONAVIRUS & INTERNATIONAL: Nations around the world have tallied 1,854,464 confirmed cases of the respiratory disease caused by COVID-19, and 114,331 fatalities. > United Kingdom: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who commended the doctors and nurses at London’s St. Thomas’ Hospital for saving his life after infection with the coronavirus, was released on Sunday and is recovering at Chequers, the prime minister’s country house. He will not be immediately returning to work, based on advice from his physicians. Great Britain became the fourth European country with more than 10,000 confirmed coronavirus cases (The Associated Press). Johnson spent three nights in the intensive care unit last week. Carrie Symonds, Johnson’s pregnant fiancée, also lauded the medical staff that aided the prime minister’s recovery from the virus, noting that there were “dark times.” “I cannot thank our magnificent [National Health Service] enough. The staff at St Thomas’ Hospital have been incredible. I will never, ever be able to repay you and I will never stop thanking you,” Symonds tweeted. “There were times last week that were very dark indeed. My heart goes out to all those in similar situations, worried sick about their loved ones.” Reuters: U.K. cancels order for simple ventilators, needs more complex ones: source. > Spain: Spain is preparing to allow some businesses to reopen as the rate of infection hit the lowest mark since the outbreak took off across the country a month ago (The Guardian). Confirmed cases increased to 166,019 across the country, a 2.6 percent increase, as the Spanish government and businesses look to emerge from the crisis. The death toll rose by 619 on Sunday — a slight uptick from Saturday’s, which was the lowest single-day total in 19 days (Reuters). However, the single-day total dropped again this morning to 517, with the total number of deaths eclipsing 17,000 (Agence France-Presse). > The Vatican: During his annual Easter address, Pope Francis discussed the ongoing coronavirus pandemic extensively and spoke of the “contagion of hope.” The pontiff noted that for Catholics across the globe, “this is an Easter of solitude lived amid the sorrow and hardship that the pandemic is causing, from physical suffering to economic difficulties.” “Today my thoughts turn in the first place to the many who have been directly affected by the coronavirus: the sick, those who have died and family members who mourn the loss of their loved ones, to whom, in some cases, they were unable even to bid a final farewell,” Francis said to an empty St. Peter’s Basilica (NBC News). Reuters: Banish “self-centredness,” Pope tells the world as it faces coronavirus. The Associated Press: Amid pandemic, Christians celebrate an Easter like no other. 
© Getty Images > Italy: Sunday marked the lowest single-day death total in more than three weeks in Italy as it looks to move past the worst of the outbreak from the virus. There were 431 more deaths confirmed on Sunday, down from the 619 the Italian Civil Protection Agency reported on Saturday. According to the latest statistics, the death toll sits at 19,899 — the second-highest total behind the U.S. (Reuters). Reuters: New Zealand, Australia say too soon to ease restrictions despite coronavirus slowdown. | 
