What’s Wrong With Pennsylvania?

[DonViejo]

What’s Wrong With Pennsylvania?
By THOMAS B. EDSALL

Allentown, Pa.

On June 30, 2011, an enthusiastic Mitt Romney arrived here in the heart of the Lehigh Valley determined to make Pennsylvania a presidential battleground state.

Standing before the closed Allentown Metal Works, Romney told reporters: “The president is a nice guy and I know he’s trying, but he doesn’t understand how the economy works” — a line that Romney later observed had resonated with focus groups.

A key assumption underpinned Romney’s appearance in Allentown — that the working class whites who once dominated this great industrial center would back the Republican nominee.

Pennsylvania demographics suggested that the state was fair game for Republicans. Seniors are a key source of support for Romney, and the state has a higher percentage of voters over the age of 65, 15.6 percent, than the country as a whole (13.3 percent). Pennsylvania is substantially whiter, at 79.2 percent, than the rest of the nation (63.4 percent). And unemployment in Pennsylvania matches the national rate at 8.1 percent.

Read More:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/whats-wrong-with-pennsylvania/?hp

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Er, what's right with PA, I think he means

White working class voters in PA 1) know Romney is a parasitic vulture capitalist hack and 2) know Obama is better economically for them.

There's not a thing in the world "wrong" with that.

[Sanddancer]

2. The lack of yard signs and bumper stickers in PA....

...Is glaring. I really don't see any overt signs of support for one candidate or the other. What I do see are a few more stickers, signs and billboards telling us that Obama is the Devil's spawn.

The Mack truck guy complaining about the lack of an understanding of civics being to blame for "ignorant" people voting Dem is a mild version of some of the "Deep North" mind set I have witnessed in too many PA towns.

[Cosmocat]

3. Putrid article

too unnecessarily focused on race.

Yes, there is that component.

But, it is there going one way or another everywhere, with other variables in play.

Nothing is "wrong" with Pa.

In some ways, what plagued BO against Hillary in the primary four years ago is what plagues Romney right now.

A lot of people took BO as feeling above them.

I think four years in office there is more of a comfort with him now.

Four years of seeing him be a good family man, doing a good overall job as president, getting OBL, taking down the Somolian Pirates.

Romney PALPABLY appears as though he feels he is above people.

Yes, there is some race component for some.

But I think people are just more comfortable with BO than Romney, bottom line.

I agree about the point about a lack of signs.

I see a handful of Romney signs here. But, my area is very much more republican than democrat, and to not see a lot of Romney signs right now is telling in how much the hard line Rs hate BO but not able to get behind Romney.