Signs Of Desperation For Trump In Rural Western Pennsylvania

The Trump campaign's announcement that Donald Trump will be holding a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania suggests that Trump is frantically trying to turn up votes in PA.

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Donald Trump Is Coming To Indiana, PA

Indiana, PA, is most well known for two things: Christmas trees and being the birthplace and childhood home of legendary actor Jimmy Stewart. The town has a Jimmy Stewart Museum, and at Christmas time, the main street transforms into Bedford Falls with displays from the Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life. If you don’t like Jimmy Stewart or It’s A Wonderful Life, Indiana probably isn’t the place for you.

Indiana is also the home of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where I went to school. It is also one of those classic southwestern Pennsylvania former coal towns that was Democratic for decades but became Republican earlier in the 2000s as the economy declined and never really came back.

The town itself is a purple spot surrounded by a county of red. Donald Trump won 66.1% of the vote in the county in 2016, and 68.2% in 2020.

However, a quick look at the map shows why Donald Trump is coming to a 5,000-seat venue in a county where he has probably squeezed out every possible Republican vote already.

Indiana is in the white box.

Indiana County is an hour away from Pittsburgh, but in the counties neighboring Indiana, Trump’s voter percentage was in the 70s and, in some cases, close to 80 in 2020.

The fact that Trump chooses to campaign in such a red area explains his desperate strategy in Pennsylvania.

Trump Is Going Down A Path To Failure In The Keystone State

Donald Trump is going to try to win Pennsylvania by squeezing every single Republican vote out of the rural parts of the state that he can.

Trump will spend a precious day of the campaign in a place where he is virtually assured of winning at least 65% or more of the vote. He won’t spend a day in the suburbs courting suburban white voters in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. Trump isn’t making a play for the larger student populations at Pitt or Penn State.