Key Takeaways
- Pennsylvania is a key battleground state in the 2024 US presidential election.
- The state holds the largest number of electoral votes among seven highly competitive US swing states.
- Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have spent most of their time campaigning in Pennsylvania.
- The state is sharply divided in its political preferences, with residents supporting opposite candidates.
Washington: Pennsylvania holds the largest number of electoral votes among seven highly competitive US swing states, which makes it the top prize in the 2024 tight presidential race.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have spent most of their time campaigning there.
Trump and Harris are basically tied in Pennsylvania. With four days before the election, the former president is leading the Democratic challenger by 0.5 percentage points in the Keystone State, according to Real Clear Politics.
Four days before the election in 2020, Biden had a 3.6 point edge over Trump in Pennsylvania.
Trump ended up losing Pennsylvania four years ago after flipping it to the Republicans in 2016.
Harris has conducted over dozen campaign events in Pennsylvania – twice as much as in Michigan. It was in Pittsburgh, where the Democratic nominee pitched her economic plan, and it was in Philadelphia where she introduced her running mate Tim Walz.
In Pittsburgh, former President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail on October 10 for the first time since Harris accepted her party’s nomination.
Addressing a rally in Erie County in October, Harris said: “You are a pivot county. How you all vote in presidential elections often ends up predicting the national result.”
Pennsylvania has become a key state for Trump too. The former president was wounded in his ear during an assassination attempt on him at a rally in Butler that killed one and injured two others.
Several months after the assassination attempt, Trump said during a rally in Butler: “If we win Pennsylvania, we will win the whole thing.”
Also in Pennsylvania, Trump served fast food during a campaign stop at a McDonald’s.
Both political parties have directed more than 20% of their campaigns’ ad spending to Pennsylvania, according to AdImpact.
Since President Joe Biden dropped out, Democrats have spent some $160 million on ads in this crucial state, compared to the $120 million spent by Trump and his allies.
Like residents of all contentious states, Pennsylvanians are sharply divided in their political preferences.
Freddy, a resident of a small town of Washington, told RIA Novosti that it is difficult to choose between the two candidates because he supports Harris on abortion issues and prefers Trump on immigration.
“She’s not against abortion, and Trump he just wants no abortion at all,” Freddy noted.
On immigration, however, Freddy believes Trump would do a better job.
“It looks like Harris is trying to fix something they didn’t do in the past. I think it is horrible,” Freddy said.
Judy, also a resident of Washington, told RIA Novosti that she will be very disappointed if Harris wins but has “nowhere else to move.”
With the election around the corner, towns across the state are bursting with campaign posters, billboards and yard signs. Often, neighbors support opposite candidates.
In Bethlehem, the most populous city of Northampton County, most billboards seem to be supporting Harris, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. Trump, however, took over highway billboards at the entrances to the city.
