The Media Ignored the Anti-Biden Protest Votes Among Pennsylvania Democrats
SOMERSET, Pennsylvania -- Just about 236 miles from here lies Montgomery County, where reporters and analysts are beside themselves (over-)scrutinizing what the message is from all those Republican primary votes that went to former U.S. United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley over former President Donald Trump, the party's presumptive nominee.
And what that means for November.
The interest is understandable. Pennsylvania is a vitally important state for Trump and President Joe Biden. Biden arguably needs it even more than Trump does.
So why are the media asking only about Trump's semiweak performance?
When looking for trends, it makes sense to ask what these suburban Republican voters are telling Trump with their protest vote for Haley. Will they continue their rejection of him into November, or are they just irritated but will come home to the party then?
On Tuesday, Haley earned more than 12,000 votes to Trump's 38,000 in Montgomery County. Overall, in Pennsylvania, the former South Carolina governor netted just over 16.6% to Trump's 83.4%.
However, while reporters and strategists should wonder what it means to Trump, they should also ponder what happened in the Democratic primary results, not just in counties like this one but all over the state.
That is, if you really do want to understand what might happen in this state in a few months.
Ignoring what happened to Biden in Pennsylvania is no different than ignoring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's missteps here in 2016 and then wondering how Clinton lost.
In short, while the highly populated, highly educated suburban counties like Philadelphia matter, it is more than likely that blue-collar counties such as Somerset, Erie and Northampton will matter at least equally. They sure did in 2016, and they are giving reporters and strategists a wealth of information to dissect.
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