Pennsylvania in Play? Campaigns Make Final Push
In the waning days of the presidential campaign, Donald Trump is refocusing his energy on Pennsylvania and other blue-leaning states – including Michigan and Colorado -- he confidently viewed as winnable earlier in the race. But even as his standing has improved, the picture remains unclear, and the Keystone State, for one, remains a difficult climb for the Republican nominee.
Trump’s team recognizes the challenge of closing the gap, with Hillary Clinton leading in the RealClearPolitics average for Pennsylvania by 2.4 percentage points. One campaign staffer with knowledge of the state predicted Trump would lose there by a few points, barring a last-minute seismic shift.
When Trump’s general election campaign was still in its early stages, his advisers envisioned a path to victory through Rust Belt states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where lost manufacturing jobs had drained local economies of their lifeblood.
Trump and his allies anticipated that these states’ working-class complexion would make them a natural fit for the GOP standard-bearer, with voters on the whole more white and less educated than elsewhere.
That theory has shown its merit in Ohio, a key battleground where Trump has maintained a slight edge. But Clinton has steadily held modest advantages in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
With Election Day approaching, however, her margin is shrinking, and Trump is hoping to reassert himself in Pennsylvania in particular. Without its 20 electoral votes, his path to 270 diminishes dramatically.
“I actually think...we’re winning...in the great state of Pennsylvania,” Trump told supporters during a rally Friday in Hershey, one of several stops he is making in the state in the campaign’s final days.
“I really believe I’m going to do well in Philadelphia, because that’s where I went to school,” Trump added, invoking his time at the University of Pennsylvania.
Privately, insiders admit the outlook is less rosy. In recent days and weeks, an internal debate has transpired among Trump’s top advisers as to what states would afford the most feasible path to victory. New Hampshire and Maine’s 2nd Congressional District have recently emerged as surprise battlegrounds, but with few electoral votes to offer. Meanwhile the candidate’s chances in blue-leaning states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Virginia and Pennsylvania – all of which the campaign believes are increasingly in play – remain iffy. Trump was in Colorado on Saturday, the same day his running mate, Mike Pence, visited Michigan. The nominee has added a stop in the Old Dominion on Sunday night.
Democrats and Clinton have also focused on Pennsylvania, but as a key state in their firewall to stop Trump.
And they have taken a markedly different approach there from that of the businessman, whose anti-trade message has highlighted the decline of American manufacturing jobs. Clinton, with her focus on the state’s urban centers, has instead touted Pennsylvania’s evolution and growth in other sectors.
“I have seen the ups and the downs of this great city. And now, when I drive in, what do I see?” Clinton said during a rally in Pittsburgh on Friday. “I see a positive, optimistic, confident city making progressive, moving forward.”
Both campaigns are spending significant time in Pennsylvania, one of the electoral battlegrounds that does not have early voting, making it all the more important for the candidates and their surrogates to be on the ground, urging voters to get to the polls.
Melania Trump made a rare campaign appearance in the all-important Philadelphia suburbs on Thursday, an area that will likely decide who wins the state. Ivanka Trump will in there on Sunday. Trump himself will make two additional stops in the state – one on Sunday and one on Monday.
Clinton joined singer Katy Perry at a concert in Philadelphia on Saturday night and has the state’s native son, Vice President Joe Biden, crisscrossing it – making four stops in various cities over the weekend.
And Clinton will cap off her Pennsylvania pitch with a rally Monday in Philadelphia, the city where she accepted her party’s nomination. She will be joined by Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and Michelle Obama.
