(Final pre-election) Report from the field in Butler, PA

[Joe Cool]

Butler County, PA has a 2:1 GOP registration advantage.

Never in my life have I seen so many signs for any Democratic candidate as i have seen for Harris/Walz this year. In and around the city of Butler, the signs on people's property are about 50/50 for Harris/the rapist/felon/fraud. I have noticed in the last two weeks or so that many of the Harris signs along roads have gone missing and in some cases signs for rapist/felon/fraud have replaced them, which almost certainly means Trump supporters have been taking them.

Now, I took a drive from Butler to Huntingdon county this weekend on Routes 422 and 22. The rapist/felon/fraud signs outnumber Harris signs by what seemed like 10:1, but that has been pretty much Republican territory this century. I discounted the amount of those signs because it has been the case with the followers of the rapist/felon/fraud since 2016.

The fact that there is so much enthusiasm for Harris in Butler of all places makes me think that there is a lot of enthusiasm the podcasters in their basement studios and the so-called pundits are missing.

[GreenWave]

1. Yeah! Weaken that red vote!

[FarPoint]

2. Good to know...

I was bon/raised in Mars, Pa. All my friends there are still Democrats.....some HS peers, not so much....

[Qutzupalotl]

3. If Trump voters were confident, they wouldn't have to steal signs.

They know what's coming and are doing what they can to suppress it. Like a screen door on a submarine!

[arlyellowdog]

4. There are no Harris/Walz signs on the road in my town

There are Trump signs. A lot of house that had Obama signs are bare. My town is Arlington, Va with will probably go 75 to 80% Harris. 1. Some stupid MAGA steals all the signs so why feed his fun. 2. I tried getting another sign because I have 2 Harris signs from a local artist and there are none left.

[lees1975]

5. I lived in Cranberry Township during the 2012 election, and up the road in Muddy Creek Twp in the 2016 election.

As I recall, the city of Butler is a blue island in the county. But, in 2012, we got a visit twice from on the ground volunteers the week before the election. In 2016, I walked the community knocking on doors and canvassing, and found a large cluster of Democratic voters in a place called Lake Arthur Estates, on 19, and one of my favorite places to canvass turned out to be Slippery Rock.

What needs to happen in these PA counties is Democrats who live in red areas, like Butler, need to turn out in larger numbers than they normally do. Shapiro and Fetterman got that to happen in 2022, and I hope the army of volunteers there this week can do the same.

Just FYI, my sign count, from my daily drive to work, is 29 Harris/Walz, 3 Trump. Most of the yard signs are for local races, or the Congressional race. Word is that the GOP candidate in our district, not having much of a chance, received zero dollars from the party. But, for context, it is a district in the city of Chicago, and my commute to work is also through the northwest part of Chicago. This is really not a yard sign kind of election, they are usually a lot more numerous in Mid-terms, when the governor's race is happening.