Biden also faced protest votes in Pennsylvania, with about 7% of Democratic primary voters supporting a longtime challenger who is no longer running, and another 6% casting write-in votes amid a liberal campaign for express their dissatisfaction with Biden’s foreign policy. .
But dissent on the Republican side in key suburban counties was particularly notable, Democrats argued, and occurred despite the absence of an organized campaign to encourage votes against Trump.
Trump’s repudiation in Tuesday’s primary is a measure of a broader dynamic that operatives in both parties are watching closely as November approaches. The extent to which Republican voters turn against Trump — and Democrats abandon Biden — could be a big factor in a close race.
A potentially troubling sign for Trump emerged in suburban Philadelphia, four vote-rich counties where turnout is crucial to winning the state. In three of the four counties, nearly 25% of Republican voters voted for Haley over Trump. (Pennsylvania has a closed primary, so only voters registered with a party can participate in that party’s primary.)
It is less clear whether many of them, who tend to be more moderate, could be Biden voters in 2020 or potential new Trump defectors.
Biden had a much stronger showing in these key counties, winning more than 90 percent in all four.
The show of resistance against Biden was divided, with about 68,000 Democratic voters voting for Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.), who, like Haley, dropped out in early March, and an additional 59,000 writing someone or something d ‘other. Biden won about 88 percent of the vote.
Some voters across the ideological spectrum in key states said they were debating whether to stay home or align with one of several third-party options. Antipathy toward Biden and Trump has also been evident this primary season in other general election battlegrounds.
In the Wisconsin primary this month, for example, Biden won 89 percent in the Democratic primary and Trump won 79 percent in the Republican primary.
Democrats face intra-party discord over the war in the Middle East and Biden’s handling of it, resulting in coordinated campaigns to register protest votes, such as in Michigan , where a significant minority of Democratic primary voters chose “uncommitted” on their ballots. In Pennsylvania, there was no no-commitment ballot option, but liberal activists led a campaign to persuade voters to write it in. It is not yet clear how many of the 51,119 registered voters have done so.
On the Republican side, Trump has been a dominant force for years, but his adoption of divisive positions and tactics, his false claims about the 2020 election, and his legal troubles have turned off a minority of Republican voters — a potentially important factor in a close election.
David La Torre, a Republican strategist in Pennsylvania, said the Trump camp had reason to worry about Haley getting more than 100,000 votes in the state “when she’s not even actively campaigning.” “.
But he pointed out that there are also warning signs for Biden in Pennsylvania and other swing states, particularly when third-party candidates are present. La Torre said third-party candidates were not a major factor in 2020, but that Gary Johnson helped Trump narrowly win Pennsylvania in 2016, receiving more than 2% of the vote.
“What Trump’s people need to do is go to Pennsylvania, make their case, talk about the economy, show up against Joe Biden’s record – and Donald Trump needs to stop talking about himself and how he is a victim,” La Torre said.
Public polls show a tight race in Pennsylvania, with Biden and Trump virtually tied. Both campaigns intend to spend heavily in the state, which historically almost always chooses the winner of the presidential election. When Trump won the White House in 2016, he narrowly beat Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, by about 44,000 votes.
“The fact is these voters are up for grabs,” said Larry Ceisler, a Pennsylvania-based Democratic public affairs official.
Republicans responded by pointing out Biden’s vulnerabilities, including low approval ratings and polling in swing states that gave Trump a lead. “Yesterday, President Trump continued his winning streak and achieved a resounding primary victory in Pennsylvania,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, suggesting the Biden campaign would not be able to overcome discontent over issues such as inflation.
Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, also touted the results in Pennsylvania, with Rapid Response Director Ammar Moussa saying they showed that Trump’s “extremism” is alienating voters — “even when he doesn’t presents himself against no one.”
Other data suggests that Haley’s continued support in the low-turnout primaries may not be a sign of trouble for Trump in November. Recent national and Pennsylvania polls find that about 9 in 10 self-identified Republicans support Trump in the general election, tied with the share of Democrats who support Biden.
washingtonpost
