Donald Trump came out swinging in his first re-election town hall, contending he does not blame former president Barack Obama for the coronavirus outbreak while also painting himself as a victim of baseless criticisms from Democrats.

Asked by a supporter about the combative nature of US politics, he vowed “if they hit us, we hit back.” His comment suggested anew that the general election could be the most bare-knuckled in modern American history.

“I don’t blame anybody. I want to get everybody to understand they made some decisions which were not good decisions,” Mr Trump said a day after he falsely claimed his predecessor shut down a White House pandemic team that he shuttered in May 2018.

“I’m not blaming anybody,” he claimed in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “It just seems ... some of the Democrats have said, ‘If we find a cure and everybody is better ay 9 o’clock, he’s done a terrible job.’”

“It’s just automatic. How’s the president doing? ‘Oh terrible, terrible,” he said.

The president was back in Pennsylvania, a state he needs to hold after narrowly winning it in 2016. He visited the Keystone State eight times in 2018, five times in 2019, and one previous time in 2020.

And, notably, he chose Scranton for his first town hall, the hometown of former Vice President Joe Biden, who once again is the Democratic frontrunner to face him in the general election.

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Recent national polls conducted by Fox News and Yahoo give Vermont senator Bernie Sanders a seven-point and six-point lead, respectively, over the president. The same polls give Mr Biden an eight-point and nine-point advantage nationally over Mr Trump in a head-to-head race.

In key swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Mr Sanders leads the president by a few per centage points -- but within the margins of error. The same polls in the same states show the former VP tied with the 45th chief executive.

One Democratic strategist, however, said Mr Biden is attracting a mix of voters that likely would give him a better chance in the general election. “This is the winning coalition from 2018 and Obama years: African-American and suburban voters,” the strategist said.