stock images of 2020 presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump (Images: Shutterstock)

This time, it's not the economy. This presidential election will turn on the trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Dan Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas Research Partners, an institutional brokerage and advisory firm.

"Covid is having a far larger impact on the [presidential] race than the economy itself," said Clifton, who spoke at a recent BNY Mellon Wealth Management webinar. He explained that presidential elections are usually decided based on the strength of the country's economy and stock market, but this time around the economy—and economic outlook—depend largely on what happens with the pandemic and the vaccine that could slow its spread and potentially end it.

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Bernice Napach

Bernice Napach is a senior writer at ThinkAdvisor covering financial markets and asset managers, robo-advisors, college planning and retirement issues. She has worked at Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Reuters, Investor's Business Daily and The Bond Buyer and has written articles for The New York Times, TheStreet.com, The Star-Ledger, The Record, Variety and Worth magazine. Bernice has a Bachelor of Science in Social Welfare from SUNY at Stony Brook.

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