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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

538: Pa Will Determine Election

On Monday, I told you NorCo is poised to vote again for Donald Trump. Since 2016, Democrats have added just 324 voters to their ranks while Republicans have added nearly 4,000. On Tuesday, I pointed out that 11.3% of NorCo's registered Democrats are considered inactive, meaning they have not voted in five years. Why does all this matter? After all, NorCo is just one county. Biden has an 8-point advantage in the latest Monmouth University poll. It matters because Biden's national lead means nothing in and of itself. He wins only if he wins in the electoral college. And guess what? According to 538, "Pennsylvania is by far the likeliest state to provide either President Trump or Joe Biden with the decisive vote in the Electoral College ... ."

From the article:

"Campaigns have also been forced to reconsider their conception of Pennsylvania’s political geography. The conventional wisdom was that western and eastern Pennsylvania were Democratic and central Pennsylvania was solidly Republican (memorably summarized by Democratic strategist James Carville’s quote that, between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was just Alabama). While this may have been true (at least politically) in, say, 2000, working-class western and northeastern Pennsylvania have slowly but surely been getting redder. As a result, Pennsylvania’s new geographic divide is between southeastern Pennsylvania and the rest of the state — in other words, the parts of the state that are culturally Northeastern and the parts that are culturally Midwestern or Appalachian."

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

All Americans want law and order. That is just something democrats do not understand. When you have weak legislatures you need strong executive leaders to lead.

Anonymous said...

It would be interesting if you would more clearly define this cultural difference, it smacks of just plain old elitism, that cannot see other people voting in their self interest rather than in submitting to yours.

Anonymous said...

Pa loves more moderate candidates. Even the majority of the LV voters of both parties love moderate candidates who use reason and compassion. The problem is the leaders of both parties play to their fanatic left and right base.

I believe both Northampton an Lehigh County vote for reasonable people who are not ideologues They tend to be top vote getters. Even if they are not your favorites O'Hare.

Anonymous said...

Seems hopeless until you research how bad 538's predictions have been. I await Nate Silver's next excuse for being laughably wrong.

Anonymous said...

Still waiting for someone to specifically explain what makes Biden a better choice than the incumbent. Simply saying “anything is better than Trump” isn’t very helpful.

Bernie O'Hare said...

7:52, I answered that question yesterday. Unlike Trump, Biden is "not a nonstop liar, will restore dignity to the office, will stop the endless division and chaos and will rehab fractured relationships with our allies."

I have also written three posts indicating Trump is the worst president this country has ever produced.

Anything actually is better than Trump.

Anonymous said...

endless division and chaos--perhaps you should be talking to the asshole governors in the states that are allowing the riots and chaos --fractured relationships with allies-maybe its about time someone starting making our crybaby allies pay their fair share to even be an allie. Fortunately we just got rid of the worse president ever a few years ago and he should be put in Jail for Treason

Anonymous said...

OK, so it’s all about personality of the candidate.

Anonymous said...

The democrats offer no policy, just not Trump, there is no debate about their difference with trump policy, Greed; free stuff. Envy: more free stuff and the discernment of high school girls as to which person is the most nice.

Bernie O'Hare said...

It's not the personality, but the character. That is highly important. Trump is a con man, always has been. I could live with that, but his embrace of the politics of fear and his endless divisiveness are destroying this country. I am waiting for a few of my GOP friends to wake up. I get that many Dems have become elitists and have lost sight of what made the party great. But government by chaos is not the answer. You don't tweet that your opponent is a "pedo." It's just ugly. I expect a person in the oval office to have more dignity and character. Trump has none.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Plus he lies too much. He lied about the severity of Covid-19, and even now, is exposing his own followers.

Anonymous said...

Watched the Town Hall last night since it was a chance to see Trump out of his normal FOX News Hannity/Ingram environment. It didn't go well at all - I can only imagine whichever campaign aide pushed for this is either fired or is missing a significant chunk of their ass this morning. Granted tough/difficult questions were asked, but his answers were rambling at times incoherent political non-answers. He did not connect with the audience at all. I'll be curious to see Biden's Town Hall.

Really lets just cancel the election, have one debate and the first guy who can string together a coherent sentence of greater that 15 words wins the White House. It very well may take all evening to do it, but it will be for the best.

Anonymous said...

Grasping at straws Mr. O'Hare. Biden would be a president in name only. The team keeping him the basement would tell him what to do and say.

A concerned citizen of the Valley said...

Mr. Trump has defied scientific consensus on climate change, moved to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, has appointed a climate denier as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has systematically taken steps to weaken US environmental laws, fought the mileage and emission standards for new vehicles, attempted to open sensitive ecological areas to petroleum extraction despite a worldwide glut of oil at historically low prices. Finally, he has appointed activist Federal judges who enable and facilitate his dismantling of protection for our most precious resources.

We all breathe air and drink water.

Anonymous said...

1.“The NAACP has Endorse me every time I've run.” 2.”I graduated in the top half of my class at law school”. 3 “I received 3 Degrees” 4 “ I went to college on for academic scholarship“. 5 “I oppose the Iraq war as soon as it started“. On and on and on.

Anonymous said...

Good to finally get to some specific criticisms of Trump’s performance. Understand these are all personal interpretations through a lens each of us manufactures, but it’s a start.

I am personally not at all concerned about the personality traits or demeanor of either candidate. I not contemplating marrying the guy! For me, this choice is about ability to successfully perform and provide the most tangible benefits to my family’s daily lives. It’s the value and quality of RESULTS.

This time, Trump is best prepared and most capable.

Anonymous said...

"Anything actually is better than Trump." Ahhh yes the good old Democrat moniker. Anything is better than Trump. So you'd prefer Castro? Maybe Stalin? Nah clearly the likes of Xi is more your cup of tea.

So with Trump being the worst ever you surely can't say the following issues made for an ever better elected official?

Fast and Furious
Syria "Red Line"
Drone Strikes
Increased Troop Numbers in Afghanistan, pulled out of Iraq
Creation of ISIS
NSA spying
Benghazi
ObamaCare
IRS Targeting
Iran Nuclear Deal

Ahhh but he did it with a smile and at least was good when he lied directly to my face and Oh the dignity for the office because he was a handsome guy who could flash a nice smile. How dense are you.

I'm sorry this is what you want more of Bernie. So as long as the are good at lying you don't care of what the policy does.

Anonymous said...

the virus is the last hope of the democrats, they hope it will continue to at least after the election and will keep the economy down. They dont have anything else. sad.

Anonymous said...

@10:16 don't forget the plagiarism. Don't forget he was against the Bin Laden raid yet has stated he was for it. All politicians lie, it's a prerequisite for the job! Biden has been in Washington for 47 years, it's the Harris/Biden ticket now everyone knows it.

Anonymous said...

I left the Democrat party in 2006. I grew up in a true blue D household, but I just feel the party left me. I would certainly still consider voting for a D, but really, that's the party of the far left elites now. My wife is a registered democrat, but i don't think she's voted for a Democrat in the last 10 years LOL.

Anonymous said...

Economy's coming back. Trump didn't crash it. Meanwhile, after endless war guys Bush and Obama sent 600+ and 1,700+ to die in Afghanistan, Trump has sent 74 and he's pulling troops out while - much to the chagrin of the military industrial complex warmongers in his own party who hate his guts. Historic peace agreements in the Middle East after a brilliant pivot from Obama's disastrous Iran-centered policy. Kosovo. Peace is breaking out all over and our kids aren't being sent to die in endless wars. I think Trump's a sleazeball. But whomever is getting these things done in his administration deserves a lot of credit and all our thanks. We have buildings and monuments and airports named for Viet Nam prosecutors Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Think about that.

Anonymous said...

Lyin Biden.
Basement Joe.
Hair sniffer.
Russia.
...
Can't wait for the debates and no teleprompter.

Anonymous said...

Truthfully, what will determine the upcoming election might not have anything to do with either candidate’s abilities. Widespread, poorly controlled mail-in ballots, cross-referenced with out-of-date Voter Rolls will be a significant challenge to the integrity of the final result.

Ballot cheating in various forms ALWAYS occurs. This time, the opportunity to succeed with cheating is greatly increased. There are new ways to cheat not available before to some states.

The whole thing could become so messed-up, so disputed with legal challenges, the winner could be determined outside the hands of regular citizens. There is a procedure on the books that would, as a last resort, leave the decision totally up to a vote by Congress. In that case, Trump would likely lose. He’s not part of the “Club.”

Anonymous said...

Sept 16@ 11:11 AM. The 10 items you've listed would make excellent talking points for the first half of a debate. The second half could include his yeoman's efforts as VP related to the economy, jobs, and discussion of why America's best days were behind us as of 2012. Final comments should include some nostalgia as to whatever happened to our doctors and health care plans before obama/biden along with the promise of $2,500 annual healthcare premiums along with an update on "How's Hunter Doing ? While we all know Joey was just a "white sycophant" for his marxist mentor, he was a participant in the worst administration in US history.

On second thought, nevermind! Why rehash a nightmare? just go away.

Anonymous said...

So many Beltway insiders on the blog, we should consider ourselves lucky! We have become the dogs that eat their own vomit. Once we run out of our favorite news source talking points we can only pick our asses.
It's all about power and the truth we are spoon fed out of political necessity to keep us in line. Kind of like religion. Both parties want to tell us what to do (what a woman can do with her body, how to regulate everything) to keep us from forming an original thought. This is done by feeding our fears so we believe our team is the only one that will protect us. God help us all.

Anonymous said...

@8:15 AM gets it. The pathetic dribble that comes out of their mouths the hardcore dems and reps clammier for like a baby bird relying on it's mother. It's legit insane how people think these politicians actually care about our well being. Money, power and more money that's what every last one of them cares about. It's all about obedient control over the masses.

Anonymous said...

It's Trump whose strategy now is herd immunity. Bend over, America!

Anonymous said...

This will not stand. Lochner v. New York? I don't think so.

peterjcochran said...

Yes your right Bernie. The Wall Street Journal is printing about this. The mail in ballots are in my mind lack litmus checks. I may be wrong . But the Constitution of this democracy experiment an , Republic tossed out ballots before. In 1789 when both houses couldn’t agree on electors- NYs 8th had not arrived before deadline. NC. and RI.had not radifified yet. George Washington was elected by electoral votes . Now - I’m serious- we are at great risk for a civil war. Not between states,but between groups. I’m stocking now , I live on a 8% grade collections of old bouling balls are amassing. Food ,water and shotgun cases. I warning you all now.

peterjcochran said...

Bernie, if things get to hot , I got two spare bead rooms , your welcome here.

Peterjcochran said...

Addendum , I have been at my shooting Range now almost every day since May . What I’m hearing from them is several things. 58% are from NJ. and NY. States. So - they say they think there will ballet issues. They say to me they are expecting a civil war . These people are typically middle aged with money to spend that doesn’t influence their standard of living. High end vehicles are usually present. Anyway to give you an idea - they are nice folks that are not really expreanced on their firearm. . So- I help them. They are expressing issues .