Pennsylvania voters are split in the 2024 race now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the de facto Democratic nominee.
In the week after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Harris saw an enthusiasm and polling bump that appears to be already slimming.
The 800 battleground state voters polled in Pennsylvania July 23-25 say they prefer Harris by an inconsequential one-point margin that falls within the 3.46 percentage point margin of error when it’s a head-to-head matchup between Trump and Harris.
But when third-party candidates are considered in the Commonwealth Foundation survey, the two frontrunners are neck-and-neck at 44 percent while Democrat-turned-independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earned second place with 6 percent.
Harris has not announced her running mate, but Pennsylvania’s Governor Josh Shapiro is on the three-person shortlist to become the Democratic vice presidential nominee, according to Bloomberg. The others are Arizona Gov. Mark Kelly and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
A few polls in key battleground state of Pennsylvania taken after President Joe Biden ended his campaign show Kamala Harris and Donald Trump neck-and-neck
All three are white middle-aged to older men, which some feel is needed on a ticket headlined by a black and asian woman.
Shapiro is joined by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for a campaign swing around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday to stump for Harris.
A separate Fox News poll also published on Friday also has Trump and Harris in a dead heat in Pennsylvania at 49 percent each.
The Keystone State is one of the most important to clinch in November to win the 19 Electoral College votes.
Trump nabbed a victory in Pennsylvania in 2016 by just 0.7 percent before the state flipped blue in 2020 to go for Biden over the incumbent by a 1.2 percent gap.
Pennsylvania is one of the three toss-up states for 2024, according to Cook Political Report. The other two are fellow rust belt states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
If Harris chooses Shapiro to join her on the ticket, it could be in hopes that he would deliver a victory in Pennsylvania in November.
Whitmer, once thought to be considering a bid for president in 2024, says that Harris will likely choose her running mate in the next six or seven days – just before the Democratic National Convention next month.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is a top contender for Harris’ running mate and might be able to help deliver the Keystone State in 2024. He is campaigning in Philadelphia on Monday
Despite Shapiro’s potential to help bring in voting blocs from Pennsylvanians and Jewish voters, some might be deterred by him breaking with Democrats to support private-school vouchers, which would provide public funds for parents to cover private education costs.
‘It’s important that we lift up all God’s children, and we give special attention to those who are poor kids in struggling school districts,’ Shapiro said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in December 2023.
More than two dozen small pro-public education groups sent a letter to Harris last week urging her not to pick Shapiro as her VP.
‘He is far too supportive of school privatization to be the vice president,’ Arizona public school activist Beth Lewis said. ‘We don’t need to be soft on this issue because public education is the cornerstone of our democracy.’
