# Why is PA the most competitive blue wall state? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 17, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857 "2020-09-17T18:20:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857/21 "2020-09-23T00:49:11Z")
Don’t tell me, Bob, tell Boss Tweed up there who’s riffing me about “Best.Campaign.Slogan.Ever.” 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857/22 "2020-09-23T01:03:54Z")
You guys are having a real problem understanding the argument. I am not arguing the merits of fracking or oil or coal or anything else. I’m simply pointing out that promising to end PA’s gravy train and enact policies that cost tens of thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania might explain why the state might be in play. You can argue the rightness of your policies all day long and it won’t change electoral reality. Ask the Liberals in Canada, whose promise to end oil and gas cost them every single seat in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and nearly wiped them out in BC and Manitoba. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857/23 "2020-09-23T14:59:47Z")
Great. At long as the trains run on time… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857/24 "2020-09-23T15:26:08Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Well, I can’t speak for ALL of Pennsylvania, but my mother’s family all hail from Allentown area. Lancaster County, New Tripoli, Emmaus, Germantown, even as far as Scranton and Moosic. > > I see them almost every year since I was born in 1970. Even now, I fly from CA to PA for family reunions (hopefully there’s one next year). Grew up with many of them in a distance living in Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston… > > Not one of the communities I mentioned in PA above will ever, EVER be less than 80% GOP in any election. Ever. I hear it every year. The Democrats wanna take our beliefs away from us! Heavy protestant and catholic and baptist “values” are held higher than ever. > > None of my mother’s family is affluent, though I was lucky enough to be close. I moved around and went to private schools. My cousins had victory parties planned at their public schools for GOP wins in senate, house and presidencies. > > Majority of these communities are union job families. Latchkey kids, parents with TWO JOBS?? (Unheard of for me, although the more affluent areas I lived were politically mixed but mainly heavily GOP.) > > Out of a family with ten kids (five boys and five girls), I think my mother was the only family member to vote for three democratic presidents. Biden will be her third. > > I also have relatives in/near Pittsburgh. Truckers. Lifetime. Generations. All GOP. > > Pennsylvania is not a state that can simply be figured out by area income/kids/charity/whatever. Politics go back generations. Beliefs go back generations. To be honest, I’d say PA is THE LEAST likely state to go blue this time. > > Hope I’m wrong. 🙂 These things are generally true of all rural areas of the United States. They aren’t unique to Pennsylvania, and they don’t explain actual voting results in Pennsylvania over the last 30 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857/25 "2020-09-23T15:27:42Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I am not arguing the merits of fracking or oil or coal or anything else. Not explicitly and not here. But you’ve been around long enough that most people can infer where you stand on environmental legislation. Plus the glee in your ‘voice’ isn’t as concealed as you seem to think. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857/26 "2020-09-23T15:53:09Z")
I see. I committed the grievous sin of being Sam Stone while answering a legitimate question with a legitimate answer. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857/27 "2020-09-24T18:51:49Z")
according to 538 there are 2 scenarios that trump can win without pa, biden has 4 scenarios where he can win without pa. the other 94 scenarios all have the winner winning pa. pa with the tricky privacy envelope on the mail ballot. no privacy envelope, no vote; this is going through the court now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pa-the-most-competitive-blue-wall-state/920857.md?page=1)