Pennsylvania voters shifted more toward former President Donald Trump since the spring, but President Joe Biden still bests him in the key battleground state.
In a new Franklin & Marshall poll, Biden beats Trump in a matchup 42% to 40%. Both men received a larger share of support than they did in April when Biden bested Trump 36% to 35%. The president improved his 1-point lead to a 2-point lead over Trump in the survey.
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A plurality of Pennsylvania Republicans, 39%, said if an election were held today, they would vote for Trump. This holds relatively steady to the 40% he received in April. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is only 18 points behind Trump at 21% in the new poll, one of the smallest gaps seen between the two in current polling. However, the gap is larger than it was in April when DeSantis enjoyed 34% and was only 6 points behind the front-runner.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the previously unknown biotech entrepreneur who has taken the internet by storm, received 9% after not being measured in the April survey. Following him up was Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) with 6% after a 0% debut in the spring.
The battleground state is expected to be pivotal in the 2024 presidential contest after being narrowly won by Trump in 2016 and flipping for Biden in 2020. Pennsylvania is notably the birthplace of Biden, who often brings the subject up as he rallies supporters in the state. The president has already made several trips to Philadelphia in the months leading up to the campaign season.
Another likely advantage for Biden in Pennsylvania is its increasing approval of Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA). The rising Democratic star impressed Pennsylvanians when he oversaw the speedy repair of a collapsed portion of Interstate 95 earlier this summer after a fuel tanker crashed and caught on fire.
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More than half of voters in the state have a somewhat or strongly favorable view of Shapiro in the new survey, more than either Biden (40%) or Trump (34%). Nearly half of respondents reported that Shapiro is doing a good or excellent job, an improvement from 43% in April prior to the I-95 incident.
Shapiro has been named as a member of the Biden reelection campaign's national advisory board and is expected to stump for him in the state and appear alongside him.