Why Western Pennsylvania Democrats Are Fully Pro-Trump

Hillary Clinton needs to build a firewall in Pennsylvania. That’s what David Wasserman of The Cook Report said before the Democratic National Convention — and for good reason: The state is more and more republican. That’s no guarantee that Trump will win, but recent polls show the billionaire leading in key swing states like Florida, Ohio, Nevada and Colorado. The latest developments involving the Clinton Foundation, the emails and now her near-complete collapse at the 9/11 Memorial due to an undisclosed pneumonia diagnosis could push Trump even further away. Clinton’s supporters appear to be drifting toward independents, while the juvenile people who make up the Democratic base seem to be unhappy with the former first lady. But let’s focus on Pennsylvania for a second. It’s been a GOP unicorn for years. The state last went red in 1988. Usually, if Democrats can get decent turnout in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, it’s game over. But in the western part of the state, Democrats will vote for Trump with gusto. Why? It’s personal — and it’s about survival.

Reporter Salena Zito documented voting trends in these rural areas, as well as the rise of neopopulism in the American electorate that emerged from the remnants of the Tea Party movement. he wrote in a piece Down Atlantic Why Western Pennsylvania Democrats Vote Republican. There are stories in the media that there are two Republican parties, one establishment and one anti-establishment. Well, so it is with the Democrats, with an urban elite calling the shots and a rural subset that has suffered economic devastation because of the former’s penchant for bad economic policy, the war on coal, and a basic contempt for people who get their hands filthy to make a living. They see them as uneducated rabble who are basically nothing more than rednecks who can’t speak with the diction of those liberals who dot the Acela corridor. You know, the liberals that most Americans want to push into the sea.

Zito noted that the shift in voting trends from Democrats to Republicans began in 2004, when then-Sen. John Kerry toyed with the cap-and-trade system. In 2008 and 2012, those Democrats became reliable Republican voters in national elections. Many of them spoke to Zito and noted that they were no less American than the Democrats running the cities. They were hard-working and lived good, candid lives. They believed that their geography should not be a death sentence. One told Zito that even though she was a Democrat, she was voting for Trump and incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey because both men supported her. Zito also touched on how the polls may be highlighting a wave of fresh voters who have come out of hiding to support Trump, and how this unifying stance by western Pennsylvania Democrats (they’re urging their friends, family and other relatives to vote for Trump) could have a knock-on effect in 10 key counties needed to win the state election in November:

[Angela] LeJohn candidly admits he will vote for Donald Trump for president and incumbent U.S. Senator Pat Toomey in November, not because he likes either Republican candidate, but because “they support me.”

[…]

“Sheik” Shannon, 55, a 17-year employee, believes the political class fundamentally misses the point of this election cycle. “They think it’s Trump’s celebrity. No. They think we’re all crazy. We’re not crazy,” he said, emphasizing each sentence with passion. “Communities like the one I live in don’t have to shut down and die. We live solid, honest lives, we work hard, we play hard, we pray hard… we love where we came from, and we feel a responsibility to make sure it’s here for generations.”

He is also a Democrat. So is 26-year-old Brandon Lancaster, who has worked for the Lee family since he was 19. So is Mike Lee, the company’s CEO. [Lee Supply]Everyone is going to vote for Trump.

[…]

Paul Sracic, a political scientist at Youngstown State University, believes there are two categories of voters who are flocking to Trump. “First, there are people who don’t normally vote,” he said. “Nearly half of the voting-age population either wasn’t registered to vote or was registered but chose not to vote in 2012. And if even 10 percent of that group showed up and voted this year, it could easily change the outcome in important swing states.”

Sracic—who freely admits to being obsessed with opinion polls—questions whether these voters are even represented in the endless presidential polls: “If people are not registered voters, they will not be selected by most polls. If they are registered voters but do not normally vote, they can be eliminated by the ‘likely voter’ screens that pollsters use.” Romney lost Pennsylvania in 2012 by about 300,000 votes out of about 5.5 million cast; he lost Ohio by fewer than 200,000. “So bringing in new people can make a difference,” Sracic said.

But potentially more significant is the “flip” voter—Sracic’s second category. “Remember,” he said, “taking a Democratic voter and making him vote Republican is both a +1 and a -1. In other words, if Romney lost Pennsylvania by 300,000 voters, all you have to do is [this time] is a switch of just over 150,000 votes.” Between Ohio and Pennsylvania, if about 225,000 voters (out of 11 million expected on Election Day) switch parties, it could tip the entire election.

Democratic Voters Prevail it was falling in the Keystone State, though it’s rigid to be positive about the state, given how it has failed so many Republicans before. Then again, this entire cycle has been one huge shock after another. But the thing that stood out was the sense of abandonment these people felt by their own party. I’m sure there are quite a few Republicans who feel the same way, and those feelings have been fresh for years. Maybe it took a politically incorrect, billionaire real estate tycoon to be the voice for these people where so many other candidates have failed. Mitt Romney certainly wasn’t the voice for these people in any way, shape, or form. For many, the appeal of Trump is that he gives rural blue-collar workers a voice, despite what the national Democratic Party says, and he’ll take a baseball bat to the face of the political establishment that’s cheated them. While Zito seems to emphasize the first point, these hard-working Americans simply do not want to give up their way of life just because some overeducated, urban liberal snob would not feel comfortable inviting them into his home. Republicans need to return to the message of social mobility, and more importantly, that every American family and job matters, no matter what they do, that contributes to the growth of this nation.

While Democrats say Trump wants us against each other, they only have to look in the mirror to see the real monster. They are Michelin-starred chefs in cookie-cutter politics, and one of their biggest hits is the war on women. Democrats can only win by dividing the country, which they have done masterfully for the past eight years. In this case, it’s the liberal urban twat versus the coal miner. The coal miner was devastated by the liberal urbanites—and they’re out for revenge. Let’s give them a reason to vote Republican forever, shall we? All eyes on you, Mr. Trump, because these people think you’re going to make America great again. If you’re elected in November, I think the greatest revenge you can exact is a successful job creation program that destroys Obama’s economic record.