Democrat voters in President Joe Biden’s home state of Pennsylvania are flipping to the Republican Party in droves, new registration data shows.
Pennsylvania, the president’s birthplace, holds crucial importance for Biden’s 2024 reelection bid.
Earlier this year, Biden notably hailed Philadelphia campaign donors as the “backbone” of his presidential campaign.
However, Democrats in Biden’s home state are abandoning his party in numbers that spell doom for the president’s election hopes.
As of December 18, 35,589 Democrats reregistered as Republicans in the state so far this year.
In contrast, 15,622 Pennsylvania Republicans switched to the Democratic Party, data from the State Department shows.
The state trend was first reported Tuesday by Newsweek.
Biden’s ties to his home state deepen with his wife Jill’s roots in Montgomery County.
The president’s granddaughter Maisy also recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.
On Wednesday, the White House announced that Biden would make his first visit to Philadelphia on Jan. 6.
Nathan Benefield, senior vice president of the Pennsylvania-based public policy think tank Commonwealth Foundation, warns that Biden is becoming increasingly unpopular in his home state.
While Pennsylvania is a swing state, “by all the polling, Joe Biden is unpopular here,” and much of it is attributed to the president’s “Bidenomics,” Benefield said.
“Voters are saying they’re not happy with Bidenomics and the economy, and I think that’s reflected in the registration and some of the voting patterns,” he explained.
“Whether Trump and Biden are at the top of the ticket or not, I do think it’s going to be pretty much one of the closest states next year.”
Benefield suggested that a shift is occurring among blue-collar Democrats in the state.
Particularly, blue-collar Democrats in the western region have historically favored Republicans in presidential elections.
This change seems to be permeating to lower-level elections, and it’s now becoming evident in their party registration.
State voter registration data also indicates a significant trend for both parties.
It reveals that a substantial number of voters are disassociating themselves from party affiliation.
Specifically, 20,908 Democrats and 18,927 Republicans chose to leave their respective party memberships.
In 2020, Biden claimed the state for the Democrats by just 1.2 percentage points.
Trump had flipped state in 2016.
Pennsylvania will have 19 electoral votes up for grabs in 2024, down one from 2020.
The latest polling data indicates that Biden is either even with Trump or trailing slightly.
In 2020, Pennsylvania fell to Biden by just under 80,000 votes.
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