Pennsylvania vote flashes warning sign for Biden and Trump

Voting in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday highlighted weaknesses for US president Joe Biden and Republican challenger Donald Trump, as Mr Biden struggled with voter turnout and a protest movement while Mr Trump was hit by strong turnout from loyalists to former Republican candidate Nikki Haley.

Mr Biden and Mr Trump both easily won their separate party primaries, according to state election data. But the contests highlighted tepid voter enthusiasm in a campaign marked by both candidates’ low approval ratings.

Pennsylvania, with 19 electoral college votes toward the 270 needed to win, is a top prize and a toss-up in the presidential election featuring a Biden-Trump rematch.

Mr Biden received 929,798 votes, or 93.1pc of the Democratic total, according to unofficial state election data. Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman who dropped out of the race, got 68,523 votes, or 6.9pc, state data shows. Around 50,000 Democrats wrote in candidates, most of which are expected to be “uncommitted” votes signalling anger at Mr Biden’s support of Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Mr Trump received 789,155 votes, or 83.4pc of the Republican total, state data showed. Ms Haley, who dropped out the race, got 156,993, or 16.6pc, a significant number for someone who is no longer a challenger.

Ms Haley, a former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, remained on the Pennsylvania ballot after dropping out of the race last month. Primary voting in the state is confined to registered Republicans, locking out the independent voters who favoured her.

Her substantive results show that some chunk of Republicans continues to be unhappy with Mr Trump, who is on trial on 34 criminal counts in New York.

Ms Haley did particularly well in the counties of Montgomery, Delaware and Chester, suburbs of Philadelphia, where she received about one out of every four votes, state election data showed.

“That’s an area that’s highly educated, more moderate in its politics, and crucial for winning Pennsylvania,” said Christopher Borick, professor of political science at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “We saw that in 2020, if you wanted to pick one spot in Pennsylvania that ended Trump’s chance here, it was the Philadelphia suburbs.”

In 2020, Mr Biden won Pennsylvania by less than 1.5pc, or roughly 80,000 votes. Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton there by fewer than 45,000 votes in 2016.

Muslim and Arab-American voters mounted an “Abandon Biden” campaign in Pennsylvania to protest the president’s handling of the Gaza crisis. He faced similar efforts in battleground states like Arizona, Wisconsin and North Carolina, with the biggest turnout a 13pc uncommitted vote in Michigan’s primary.

There were over 50,000 write-in votes on Tuesday, Mr Borick noted, almost all of which were projected to be write-in “uncommitted” votes as part of the protest. Official results, however, were not available because the votes have to be entered manually. Organisers in Pennsylvania were aiming to get 40,000 write-in “uncommitted” votes.

Democrat turnout in crucial Philadelphia county was also weak. On Tuesday Mr Biden got 131,298 votes there, compared to 239,492 votes in the 2020 primaries. The smaller Allegheny county had better turnout than Philadelphia, posting 144,184 votes for Mr Biden on Tuesday. “Historically Philadelphia has been the electoral engine that drives Democrats to win Pennsylvania,” Mr Borick said. In 2020, Mr Biden received 81.4pc of the vote, or 603,790 votes, there.

Mr Biden clinched the Democratic nomination and Mr Trump secured the Republican nod early last month, and neither faces serious opposition on the primary ballot. Mr Biden and Mr Trump have visited the state in recent weeks and focused on the general election rather than Tuesday’s vote.

The president was born and spent part of his childhood in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and has for decades been a fixture in the politics of neighbouring Delaware.

Meanwhile, former Republican candidate Mitt Romney did not mince his words when speaking to reporters about Mr Trump’s hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

“I think everyone has made their own assessment of President Trump’s character”, he said on Tuesday. “And as far as I know you don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you”.

Mr Trump is currently on trial in New York on felony charges of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment that his attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, made to Ms Daniels to increase his client’s prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

It’s not clear how long the trial will go on but it could last months.

A February poll by Reuters/Ipsos found that a majority of Americans would not vote for Mr Trump if he’s convicted of a felony or serving time in prison before the presidential election.

Mr Romney, a former Republican senator from Utah and 2012 presidential candidate, has never been one to shy away from his distaste for Mr Trump.

In December, he said he would not support the former president in the 2024 presidential election and would not rule out voting for Mr Biden if the two of them end up on the final ballot.

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