Pennsylvania voters are complicated. We drove around the state talking to them

Braddock, Pa., on Oct. 16, 2024.

Nate Smallwood for NPR

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Nate Smallwood for NPR

With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is the largest battleground prize — meaning the road to victory most likely runs through here.

Just days before the election, both Vice President Harris and former President Trump are barnstorming the state to rally support. The state was decided by about a percentage point in 2020, and the vote expected to be close again.

To see how the candidates’ messages are resonating, Morning Edition hosts Michel Martin and Steve Inskeep each led teams across Pennsylvania, stopping in Pittsburgh, Gettysburg, Allentown, Philadelphia and other towns to talk with voters.

The Pennsylvanians we met reflect a divided electorate. Some are voting for Harris, inspired by her vision that they say represents stability for them and because they want to see a woman as president. Others are voting for Trump because they believe in his economic policies and promises. And a few weren’t so sure about either candidate.

These are some of the people we met along the way.

At a fracking wastewater disposal site outside Pittsburgh, Ben Wallace shared his frustrations with industry regulations and why he’s voting for Trump.

We met Wallace at a site in New Kensington owned by Penneco Environmental Solutions, where he serves as its chief operating officer. Large tanker trucks full of recovered water used during fracking drove onto the site as we spoke. The water is treated and injected deep under the earth’s surface — a controversial practice due to concerns about water contamination.

Ben Wallace, chief operating officer at Penneco Affiliated Companies, poses for a portrait an injection well in Plum, Pa., on Oct. 15, 2024.

Nate Smallwood for NPR

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Nate Smallwood for NPR

Wallace denies that the practice is unsafe and doesn’t believe in human-caused climate change. He argues that industry regulations added over decades have led to hundreds of thousands in additional costs to his business and he believes Trump would be friendlier to the industry.

“This is kind of an argument I give to environmental activists all the time. Show me the industry. You know, you are in the Saudi Arabia of natural gas right now,” Wallace said. “You are standing here and you don’t see the industry anywhere.”

Wallace helps lead a political action committee that runs billboard ads supporting Trump and said his support of the former president goes beyond his work.

He backs Trump because of what he believes are American values, which he explained as “The right of self-determination, the right to be a Christian nation, the right to determine your own outcome, the right to be free of government interference.”

A few miles west, Rose Faust, who spent 20 years in a ceramics factory and is now president of her local union chapter, believes Harris could “bring peace back to this country.”

Faust said she’s tired of seeing so much division in the country, and she feels that the country electing a woman of color is the kind of change the U.S. needs.

She began working in manufacturing to support her three daughters after a divorce. She worked the job until her body couldn’t handle it. She eventually needed surgery on both elbows. Though insurance has gotten more expensive, she still credits the union’s strong bargaining for previous health benefits. Her three daughters are all college graduates now.

Rose Faust poses for a portrait in Oakmont, Pa., on Oct. 15, 2024.

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Nate Smallwood for NPR

Ahead of the election, Faust is knocking on doors of union members, both active and retired, to encourage them to vote. She said many of the older, retired members acknowledge that the union helped obtain many benefits they enjoyed during their working days.

Faust said she reminds them that President Biden signed into law the Butch Lewis Act, designed to protect their pensions, and that it only passed the U.S. Senate when Vice President Harris cast a tie-breaking vote.

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“They take their union and their retirement seriously,” Faust said. ‘They’ll say ‘Hey, we’re Democrat no matter what. We know how we got our jobs. We know who took care of us all these years.’”

But others dismiss her sales pitch. Some members support Trump, voicing their concerns about immigrants and asylum seekers.

Faust is baffled by the lack of empathy for those fleeing violence and seeking better lives. Their struggles resonate deeply with her; she was born into a troubled family and grew up in foster care.

“I would open my home to anybody. Somebody opened their home to me years and years ago. Had that not happened, where would I have been? I could have been on the streets too, you know,” Faust said.

In Rankin, U.S. Steel worker William Timbers asked to meet at Styles Unlimited, a barber shop in this predominantly Black borough he described as “the country club in the hood.”

He has worked for U.S. Steel for nearly three decades and is active in the local union. For him, this work represents the American dream, which is why he supports the U.S. Steel’s sale to Nippon Steel of Japan. He, like others we spoke to in this economically depressed area, believes the sale could save jobs.

But neither candidate is winning him over on this issue that directly affects him because they both oppose the sale. He was truly an undecided voter, but that didn’t mean he was without his views on the election or planned to sit out like he did in 2020.

William Timbers, a U.S. Steel worker and steelworkers union member, poses for a portrait in Rankin, Pa. on Oct. 16, 2024.

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Obed Manuel/NPR

“One candidate ain’t always going to line up with everything you believe in, so I got to go with the pros and cons,” Timbers said. “As of right now, I haven’t made a choice. And everybody saying, ‘you haven’t made a choice? You’re the last person in Pennsylvania’”

Timbers is concerned about Trump saying the country needs to have “one really violent day,” as a way to deter theft and property crime. “Violence begets violence,” Timbers said.

He added that, as a Christian man, what he loves about Trump is his pro-life stance — which was part of why he voted for him in 2016.

As for Harris, Timbers described her as “independent and strong on her views and her values and. I believe she may be a good candidate.”

Could he vote for a pro-choice candidate, we asked?

He stopped, smiled, chuckled and took a deep breath.

“That’s a hard question,” Timbers said. “Yes, I could. If when you go through the checklist, if the checks is more pros than cons, I could.”

After a couple of days in the Pittsburgh area, we drove to Gettysburg, where just a few miles away from the historic battlefield, we met Korean War veteran Jack Powell.

Powell, who has lived here for 42 years, describes himself as a “firm believer in America” and is backing Trump.

“We’re going backwards. I mean, 15 million immigrants coming in here,” Powell said. “God knows where they’re at. New York City’s got one square block right now where you don’t dare go because they’re fighting each other.”

Jack Powell, a Korea War veteran, poses for a portrait at his in-home woodshop in Gettysburg, Pa., on Oct. 17, 2024.

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Estimates show that closer to 6 million migrants have entered the country under Biden without authorization or have been paroled into the U.S. under various programs.

Powell, who gets most of his news from the local Gettysburg Times — and YouTube — has just one big concern about his candidate:

“I wish he’d keep [his] mouth shut sometime, but then again, we all get our mouths in trouble.”

Next door, Matthew Nell shares a front lawn with Powell, where the Harris-Walz law sign he planted stands in contrast to his older neighbor’s Trump 2024 sign.

Matthew Nell, 22, poses for a portrait outside his family home in Gettysburg, Pa., on Oct. 17, 2024.

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Nell, a local college student who has done voter outreach for Harris and other Democrats, lives with his parents and grandparents. His minivan displays a bumper sticker in support of Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.

The 22-year-old said he’s concerned about the effect of misinformation and disinformation on democracy. He worries about how false stories and conspiracy theories spread easily online and make their way around the country and the world.

“We are more connected than ever and it’s leading us to more division than ever,” Nell said. “There has to be a way we can change education in a way that will allow for people to have more individuality within this sea of information [and] to have informed opinions that are closer to reality.”

Rivaling Trump and Harris lawn signs sit on the side of a road in Gettysburg, Pa. on Oct. 17, 2024.

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On the eastern side of the state, NPR journalists met Norberto Dominguez. The son of two Dominican immigrants said he’s voting for Harris.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dominguez moved to Pennsylvania in 1974, becoming a leader in Allentown’s emerging Latino community, which now makes up more than half the city’s population. He founded HALA, the Hispanic American League of Artists, to support Latino artists and preserve Latin culture.

“In speaking with folks, you see this wave of change within communities of color, and the conversations have been really fascinating at the barbershops in the different places that I visit and talk to people,” Dominguez said. We met Dominguez at a roundtable discussion NPR organized with local voters.

He’s fascinated by the way his community is engaging in politics at this moment.

“They are listening to everything, but they’re also paying attention to what they’re seeing from a body language perspective and then what they can repeat and translate from Spanish to English,” Dominguez said.

He said the language Trump uses is “embarrassing” and that he couldn’t repeat, or even translate, some words and ideas at the dinner table with his family.

“Some Latinos that were kind of leaning towards Trump, are kind of backing away because they can’t say what he’s saying at the kitchen table,” Dominguez shared. “There’s this embarrassing factor that’s affecting our community. And so it’s hard to defend him when he’s offending us at the same time.”

For this reason, Dominguez said Harris will win the election.

Jeffrey Opp, the only Republican who joined NPR’s Bethlehem roundtable, is voting for Trump.

After listening to others express support for Harris, Opp took a sip of water, sat up straight and said, “I’m a Republican. Yes, I’m voting for Trump.”

Jeffrey Opp, a voter from the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania, stands for a portrait on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.

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Kriston Jae Bethel for NPR

A few ‘humphs’ and slight grunts were audible at the table, but Opp sat patiently as everyone spoke. He responded to any questions directed at him, including why he’s voting for Trump.

“Track record,” he said, “We had four years of Donald Trump, you look at the economics, we were stronger in the world. Then you look at four years of Biden-Harris — high inflation, no job creation, the economy isn’t as good as it was. And we’re weaker in the world.”

Some participants chimed in when Opp spoke, and there was a brief argument. But when the conversation ended, he shook everyone’s hands, hugged a few, and stood smiling for a picture with the whole group.

In nearby Allentown, we met José Rivera, who was tight-lipped about who he voted for in the last election – and who he’s backing this year.

We met Rivera at La Cocina Del Abuelo, a Latino-owned restaurant on a busy street where cars strolled by blasting bachata.

Rivera was born in New York City, where he was involved in gang activity at a young age. In an attempt to get him away from that lifestyle, his mother moved him to Allentown. But she couldn’t keep him from it, and he got involved in gang activity in the new city and was incarcerated several times. Years later, at age 52, he’s a leader in his community.

A “2024 Take America Back” flag sits on a home in Lancaster, Pa., on Oct. 18, 2024.

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Hannah Yoon for NPR

Slim, tall and with slick-back hair, he sat and ate among several vocal Harris supporters, but didn’t hesitate to criticize her campaign.

“I can say the messaging on both sides has been horrible,” Rivera said. “When someone [campaigning for Harris] calls the house and says — vote for us because you don’t want a convicted felon in the White House. [I say] hold up, I’m a convicted felon.”

He said he doesn’t feel completely welcomed by either campaign.

“I might not like him [Trump], but now you’re pushing me towards him,” Rivera said. “Because if he can win the White House, I can go for City Council, I can go for mayor, it opens up doors.”

Although he said he has something in common with Trump, he did not say who he would vote for come November.

Alfa Lopez sat at the same table with Rivera. She has complicated feelings about both candidates.

Lopez, a local Latino radio personality, sat at the table across from Rivera. Though she nodded when others’ spoke positively about Harris, she expressed the need to make an informed decision.

“I don’t want to make a mistake — or just be like, ‘Oh, she’s a female, she’s Black.’ You have to study her and you have to study every candidate.”

Like Rivera, Alfa didn’t say who she would vote for, or give any indication of which candidate she’s leaning toward. But she’s confident about one thing:

“My honest opinion, I don’t think the United States in general is ready to have a female. And that being said, I think Donald Trump is gonna win.”

Yasmine Hamou of Philadelphia has already cast her vote — and she’s cautiously hopeful of witnessing history again.

We met Hamou, 27, at Rittenhouse Square, where police sirens and car horns echoed. Streets were closed because Harris was in town.

“She’s right over there,” Hamou said, smiling and looking in the direction of where the sound was loudest.

Yasmine Hamou poses for a portrait at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia on Oct. 24, 2024.

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Hamou recalled knocking on doors with her mother for then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 around Gettysburg and nearby Hanover and staying up way past her bedtime to watch him declare victory.

“I just remember the excitement and the energy, even in such a conservative place, [about] this historic moment,” Hamou said. “It was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever done…I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.”

Now working on voter outreach for Philadelphia’s Working Families Party. Hamou is focused on engaging with Democrats and independents.

As the daughter of a Black mother from the south and an Egyptian immigrant father, she’s inspired by Harris’ accomplishments as a woman of color.

“I know how difficult it is when you speak up in the workplace. You have to work 10 times as hard to get half the result as your white peers,” Hamou said. “When I was voting for her, I got a little emotional because I couldn’t believe I was seeing her name.”

But she’s not without reservations about the vice president. Hamou would’ve liked to hear Harris take a firmer stance against Israel’s actions in Gaza, including an arms embargo. She believes, however, that a vote for Harris is still progress and could yet lead to a more peaceful resolution than under Trump.

A small band of Vice President Harris supporters march on South Broad Street in Philadelphia on Oct. 24, 2024.

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“The number one thing we need to do is block white supremacy and the far right,” Hamou said. “Anchoring myself in that, and being grounded in knowing that, is how we get progressive wins and we can build a future that we want to see.”

Obed Manuel and Steve Inskeep reported from Pittsburgh, Gettysburg, and Philadelphia. Destinee Adams and Michel Martin reported from Allentown and Bethlehem.

Majd Al-Waheidi edited.