Trump Backing Seemingly No Help To Key PA GOP Candidates

Polling is an inexact science. But if recent polls in three of Pennsylvania’s three most important political races are remotely close to accurate, Democrats should have cause to celebrate after voters go to the only polls that matter Tuesday. And for that they may have cause to thank President Donald Trump.

In a poll Franklin & Marshall College poll released Thursday, Democratic incumbent Tom Wolf held a 26-point lead over Republican Scott Wagner in the gubernatorial race and Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey led Republican Lou Barletta by 15 points.

Polling isn’t as recent in the 17th Congressional District race, the nation’s only race pitting two incumbent congressmen against each other. But in a Monmouth College poll last month, Democrat Conor Lamb of Mt. Lebanon enjoyed a 12-point lead over Republican Keith Rothfus of Sewickley.

The fact that all three dare tailing badly could be seen as a Pennsylvania referendum on President Trump, who surprisingly won the state in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has endorsed the trio, even tweeting about Rothfus after he accompanied the president Tuesday to Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were shot to death by a gunman last week.

“Yesterday in Pittsburgh I was really impressed with Congressman Keith Rothfus (far more so than any other local political figure),” the president tweeted. “His sincere level of compassion, grief and sorrow for the events that took place was, in its own way, very inspiring. Vote for Keith!”

The three races have largely been uneventful with only occasional blips of excitement. In a gambit that backfired badly last month, Wagner in a TV commercial advised Wolf to put on a catcher’s mask because he planned to stomp on his face with golf spikes. An almost-immediate backlash against the threat of violence against the governor prompted Wagner to quickly issue an apology.

In the Senate race, Casey infuriated Barletta with a campaign commercial criticizing Barletta for his congressional vote last year in the unsuccessful Republican effort to jettison the Affordable Care Act. Narrated by a constituent with two daughters with cancer, the woman says, "Thank God we had health insurance. But if Lou Barletta has his way, kids like mine could be denied care they need."

Baletta immediately disclosed that his 18-month old twin grandson is receiving chemotherapy and asked Casey to stop airing the spot. Casey did, but only in Barletta’s home TV market of Scranton.

Rothfus and Lamb have been civil in their exchanges, sticking largely to debating issue on which they disagree. Rothfus wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, while Lamb would prefer to fix what he considers the legislation’s flaws. While Lamb would back universal background checks for firearm purchases. Rothfus would not. Lamb favors hiking the minimum wage to $15 an hour; Rothfus opposes an across-the-board increase.

Polls across the state will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 pm. on Tuesday.

Photo: Getty Images.

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