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Given how quickly they all went back to brunch and declared COVID over? No. Demonstrably no.
Furthermore, had the stars aligned to defeat Trump in 2016 it would have happened to under Hillary's watch and she would have lost in 2020.
What they still don't understand about COVID (well, they ignore a lot more) but what they still fail to understand is that the big problem with COVID wasn't the deaths or the actual real failures. The problem was that it interrupted the Treat Drip required to salve the rather unbearable antisocial reality of living in late capitalism. You could not eat Borgor. You had to wear mask. You had to get vaccine. You could not drink in bar. You could not send your kids to school. You could not go to Thanksgiving to eat Big Bird. You could not watch Marvel Movie.
And that matters to people for 2 big reasons: first as I said before creature comforts are all you have left when your other material realities are eroding and your planet is dying. The bread was stale and circuses were closed. Second, there is no other vector for criticism because dems agree with Republicans on so many other issues that there is no other thing to discuss! Nothing will fundamentally change, Jack. So this is it. The only game in town. Playing for peanuts on the margins.
the big problem with COVID wasn't the deaths or the actual real failures. The problem was that it interrupted the Treat Drip
This isn't quite right -- you could still have all your food treats (just the takeout versions), besides some delays you still had a wealth of media available, you could absolutely have Thanksgiving or Christmas meals (many people did this with family the same as they always have), sports resumed after a few months, you even had more time to enjoy a lot of these things if you could work from home.
It was more the long-term state of genuine crisis and uncertainty. Everything was up in the air in a way that (like last night's debate) was blatant enough that most people couldn't ignore it.