This Pennsylvania county was a bastion of Trumpism — but is undecided on 2024: 'He just lies and lies'

26 December 2023

Democrats have enjoyed some major victories in Pennsylvania in recent years, including Justice Daniel McCaffery's win in a state supreme court race in 2023. The previous year, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) flipped a U.S. Senate seat that had been mostly in GOP hands for decades, and Gov. Josh Shapiro enjoyed a double-digit landslide win over far-right MAGA Republican Doug Mastriano.

But Pennsylvania is a volatile swing state where candidates have to work extra hard in statewide races. 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 but lost it to now-President Joe Biden in 2020, and Biden's reelection campaign views Pennsylvania as a must-win state. Many polls are showing a very close race in the Keystone State in a hypothetical Trump/Biden rematch.

In a report published on Christmas Day 2023, The Guardian's Chris Stein takes a close look at Luzerne County, Pennsylvania — which, Stein emphasizes, was a Trump stronghold in 2016 and can be used to gauge how well he is performing in the 2024 election.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

The Guardian interviewed some Luzerne County voters, ranging from staunch Trump defenders to vehement critics.

Trump defenders like 74-year-old Joe Belletiere, 77-year-old Richard Yanac and 67-year-old Roger Williams insist that detractors are taking Trump's "dictator" comment during a recent townhall with Fox News' Sean Hannity out of context — that he was merely being humorous and rhetorical.

But 72-year-old Bob Buchman, who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, told The Guardian, "I'd take 10 Joe Bidens before I'd take one Donald Trump. He just lies and lies and lies. I'm afraid if he gets in now, he'll just have four years of getting even."

Read The Guardian's full report at this link.

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