With less than 40 days to go for the US election, President Trump is hinting that he may not accept a defeat. When asked about whether he will allow a peaceful transfer of power, trump said, we will see what happens. The President has raised doubts about voting by mail and said there is widespread fraud in mail-in voting. Both Democrats and Republicans have criticised Trump's remarks.

Election 2020 will also be a referendum on the US government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to non-partisan US think tank Pew Research Centre, 49 percent of voters expect difficulties in voting due to the pandemic. The initial enthusiasm over vaccine development has given way to caution and only 20 percent of Americans feel the US government is doing a good job of handling things.

US public health experts have criticised President Trump for initially downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 200,000 lives in the country. Trump is also facing backlash for interfering with the vaccine approval process, even as the US Food and Drug Administration will soon issue fresh stringent guidelines for trials which could delay vaccine approval beyond November 3.

To discuss this and more, Parikshit Luthra spoke to Kyle Kondik, Managing Editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball, Alec Tyson Associate Director of Research at Pew Research Centre and Marc Lipsitch, Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard TH Chan.

Watch the video for more.