In deep-blue Philly, working class voters are shifting toward Republicans

[RandySF]

It’s one of the biggest potential areas of concern for Harris, whose quest for the White House may hinge on Pennsylvania, where President Joe Biden four years ago defeated Trump by just 80,000 votes.

Harris’ best opportunity to run up her vote total is in Philly, where 20% of the state’s Democrats live, but where Democrats bled more votes in 2020 than in any other county. Biden performed worse than Clinton in 41 of the city’s 66 political wards.

The shift was most stark in working-class communities. An Inquirer analysis of election results found that, in 2020, Democrats lost the most ground in neighborhoods where education levels were lowest and poverty rates were highest.

The trend was consistent across racial groups, though it was most pronounced in majority-Latino neighborhoods. In two North Philadelphia political wards — including the one where Lopez lives — Biden in 2020 performed worse in nearly every voting division than Clinton did in 2016.

In some areas, voters increasingly cast ballots for Trump. In others, Democratic vote totals declined because turnout did — fewer people showing up in blue strongholds is effectively a gain for Republicans.


https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/inq2/philadelphia-working-class-voters-republican-20241001.html

[Moostache]

1. If these people believe Trump at all, they are digging their own graves. (n/t)

[XanaDUer2]

2. They'll be sorry nt

[samsingh]

3. the poorest, least educated are republican supporters.

republicans will only make their situation worse.

Democratic victories will help them out of poverty and offer a way to higher levels of education.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Good reporting

Highly recommend.

[IbogaProject]

5. We have failed to address campaign finance

And we fail to raise taxes on the wealthy when we get the chance because of that. Granted we've only had a few chances over 40 years but we have neglected the hard work of advocating that the wealthy and private equity pay enough tax. We too often go for band aids which amount to PR stunts. The corruption of well funded lobbyists and PACs caused the Affordable Care Act negotiations to leave Single Payer out of the discussion, and the public option was dropped too. I've heard zero about the slow tax increases that have been hitting every odd tax year. I know the GOP would be worse, but since they are liars they can make a simple and cogent claim, they have a laser focused campaign claiming that things were better when T45 was in. We know the whole world got worse after COVID and the USA has recovered the best from the awesome leadership from Joe Biden. I have to try and fight their simple arguments about how he never even had an infrastructure week, he was constantly bouncing from one Twitter rage to the next rather then even doing what he claimed to be best at, leading development projects. Then I mention how all the roads and bridges are getting fixed and the big money cut Joe's plan down severely and cut a small proposed tax on private equity. This is crazy that we are polling worse than 2016 or 2020.