BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 The challenges both Democrats and Republicans are confronting in the presidential race were on vivid display here at a strip mall in Northampton County \u2014 which has voted for the winner of almost every election in the past 100 years.<\/p>\n
Liberal canvasser Sierra Marquardt, 18, wandered the parking lot with some worry while registering people to vote, usually opening with: \u201cDo you believe in a woman\u2019s right to choose?\u201d Marquardt voiced concern about Democrats\u2019 support among non-White voters, which several polls show has softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of Black men, a lot of Hispanic men that I\u2019ve talked to, they\u2019re all Trump,\u201d Marquardt said. \u201cI\u2019ve registered a lot of Black Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether Republicans can capitalize on any shifts in the electorate is another question, as they work with a less expansive, nontraditional strategy to turn out disengaged voters, people who have not voted before, men under 50 and others less likely to cast ballots. At the Walmart nearby, 41-year-old Mervyn Trotman was far from confident he would make it to the polls \u2014 even though he likes Donald Trump, laments the prices at the grocery store and supports Trump\u2019s calls to crack down on undocumented immigrants. The Black resident of Bethlehem said he has never voted and still needed to register.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been looking at it,\u201d he said. But he was noncommittal.<\/p>\n
The battle over voters in Northampton County reflects some of the biggest themes and tensions running through the presidential contest all across the America less than three weeks from Election Day. Strategists view Pennsylvania as perhaps the most important swing state on the map this year and believe its 19 electoral college votes could be the tipping point. Northampton is an unusual cross-section of the country \u2014 one of 26 \u201cpivot\u201d counties nationwide that backed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.<\/p>\n
Democrats have a huge nationwide operation working to turn out their base and draw in moderate voters uncomfortable with Trump. The candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris has energized women, young people and Black voters, and tapped further into outrage over abortion restrictions. But Trump has chipped away at Democrats\u2019 longtime dominance with voters of color, public opinion surveys show, and Harris is pitching her agenda as \u201ca new way forward\u201d while also having to answer for voters\u2019 frustrations with the status quo.<\/p>\n
Republicans are tapping into anger over inflation and immigration. Polls give Trump the advantage on those top issues. But Trump\u2019s character, efforts to overturn the 2020 election and role in ending Roe v. Wade have alienated many Americans. Trump\u2019s smaller campaign operation is trying to turn out lower propensity groups, such as younger men, who are while Democrats hold the edge with especially engaged voter groups including people with college degrees.<\/p>\n
The GOP is also working against Trump\u2019s years-long disparagement of mail voting and the electoral process, urging their voters to get ballots in early and turn out for a victory \u201ctoo big to rig.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gisell Casanova said she doesn\u2019t plan to vote this year because she believes Trump\u2019s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. \u201cI believe that they\u2019re selected and not elected,\u201d said Casanova, 48. \u201cI don\u2019t believe anymore. I lost my hope in the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s bedrock base of loyal supporters, including many older, White voters, is evident across Northampton, a reminder of an imposing force Democrats are facing on a wide scale. But so is the fierce opposition to the former president, which Democrats have successfully harnessed in every national election since his 2016 win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Donald Trump is the Antichrist,\u201d said Susan Finnigan, 72, who calls herself an independent. \u201cThis man is so despicable, the way he puts down people, degrades people, lies constantly, calls everybody names.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she plans to vote for the first time in her life this fall, finally pushed into action. \u201cI thought, if he gets in office, this is really, really dangerous,\u201d Finnigan said.<\/p>\n
On the other side was Richard Yuhas, 82, who used a curse word for Harris when conservative door-knockers showed up at his porch. For most of his life he didn\u2019t vote because he \u201cwas happy with what was going on,\u201d he said. No longer. He cast his first ballot for Trump in 2020 and plans to vote for Republicans up and down the ticket this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got issues with the economy,\u201d Yuhas said. \u201cWe got issues with the border. \u2026 We are worried because there are people walking down the street that I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northampton is hotly contested up and down the ballot, home to one of the country\u2019s most vulnerable U.S. House members and one of Pennsylvania\u2019s tightest state legislative races, in addition to tough battles for Senate and president. The county of about 320,000, north of Philadelphia, has manufacturing roots and an increasingly diverse population where both parties see opportunities.<\/p>\n
Trump held a rally in nearby Lehigh County this spring, and allies such as Sen Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have come through the area more recently. Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz was in Northampton County last month for a rally with special guests such as \u201cHamilton\u201d actor Anthony Ramos, aimed in part at the roughly 15 percent of county residents who identify as Hispanic or Latino.<\/p>\n
Democrats say they are not taking any votes for granted, and campaign officials voiced confidence about their ability to win voters of color, particularly as they remind them about Trump\u2019s policies and rhetoric. The campaign has a slew of outreach initiatives, including targeted, multilingual advertising.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about turning the page on the Trump era and presenting people a new way forward that focuses on making their day-to-day lives better,\u201d said Brendan McPhillips, a senior adviser for the Harris campaign in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The outcome here and beyond will depend on swing voters but also the candidates\u2019 ability to motivate their supporters and turn out new ones. A particular jump in Democratic turnout helped swing Northampton County to Biden in 2020.<\/p>\n
Voters in Northampton often answered questions about the candidates with grimaces and harsh language, illustrating the intense dislike motivating voters on both sides. Expletives were not uncommon.<\/p>\n
Door-knockers who have fanned out across the area include representatives of the national conservative group Americans for Prosperity Action, who were recently out promoting Republican candidates for the Senate and House, not the presidency. But the top of the ticket loomed large. One woman appeared confused when an AFP Action canvasser asked whether she would vote for GOP Senate nominee Dave McCormick and House candidate Ryan Mackenzie.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 And Donald Trump?\u201d the woman asked. She laughed. \u201cDo you know where I can get a Trump sign?\u201d<\/p>\n
Democratic door-knockers are trained to use the \u201cnew way forward\u201d language. \u201cShe\u2019s running to bring down costs from groceries to housing and prescription drugs, and to protect Americans\u2019 fundamental freedoms such as the freedom to choose,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n
The Harris campaign has a big office in Easton and said last week that it had knocked on more than 24,000 doors countywide. Some of the volunteers have come in from New Jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you it\u2019s not 2016,\u201d said Will Von Klemperer, a volunteer door-knocker from Summit, N.J. He remembered growing suspicious of all the people telling them, days before the 2016 election, that they were undecided between Trump and Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople did not want to say they were voting for Trump,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Now, he said, the stigma of a Trump vote has eased. Democrats say the energy on their side is also formidable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a joyful campaign,\u201d retiree Russell Sutton, 74, said while volunteering in the Easton office, plastered with signs like \u201cSTOP TRUMP\u201d and \u201cUNION LABOR.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Trump official said they have an office in Northampton and are door-knocking and phone-banking but declined to share details. The campaign will increasingly be arguing to voters that the election is more about everyday issues rather than \u201cpersonalities or who has the nicer tweets,\u201d said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk more freely.<\/p>\n
Glenn Geissinger, chairman of the Northampton County Republican Committee, said he\u2019s been encouraged by data on mail-in ballot requests from less-likely voters and believes the Trump enthusiasm of 2016 remains.<\/p>\n
Eight years ago, he said, \u201cI watched people come to the polls who had not voted in 20, 30 years to vote for Donald Trump,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat same energy persists today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 The challenges both Democrats and Republicans are confronting in the presidential race were on vivid display here at a strip mall in Northampton County \u2014 which has voted for the winner of almost every election in the past 100 years. Liberal canvasser Sierra Marquardt, 18, wandered the parking lot with some worry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}