Philadelphia’s Working-Class Flocks to Trump as Presidential Election Draws Near
With the election being less than a month away, working-class voters in the blue city of Philadelphia have begun to abandon Vice President Kamala Harris and have been flocking to former President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported a rising trend in some of Philadelphia’s lower-income neighborhoods where voters are moving toward the Republican Party, despite these areas having long been strongholds for Democrats.
Gabriel Lopez told the outlet that he registered as a Democrat in his first election in 2016 and voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This year, he registered as a Republican and shared his support for Trump.
“Democrats keep saying [Trump] is going to bring down the economy, but he was already president for four years, and taxes were lower,” said the 27-year-old. “We’re tired of the same politics. We got a different type of guy, and the people actually love him.”
While Philadelphia is home to 20 percent of the state’s Democratic voters, the city saw the largest decline in Democratic voters compared to any other city in the 2020 election, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The shift was especially noticeable in areas with less-educated and poorer voters, notably in Latino-dominated neighborhoods, where the economy is a key issue.
“When Trump was president, everything was cheaper,” said retired truck driver Jim Kohn, who is a registered Democrat but voted for Trump three times. “Now, everything is so sky-high.”
North Philadelphia Democratic resident Felix Alvarado said that he is considering voting for Harris but is also looking at Trump. The 33-year-old said that the crisis at the southern border concerned him and felt that Harris would not be able to handle it, calling her a “little wishy washy.”
Democratic Puerto Rican and LGBTQ community leader and Harris supporter Rafael Álvarez Febo said that some Latino men are drawn to Trump’s anti-establishment rhetoric because they feel that the government has failed them.
“Many of us have people in our families who have gone to jail, or gone to schools that have failed us,” he said. “We’re not trustful of the government.”
“Then you have someone like Trump, who is a liar, and for some people, it’s like, ‘you know something? He’s an honest representation of what we feel.’”
“They’re saying Kamala is going to save our democracy,” he added. “That means very little for people who can’t keep the lights on.”
Though there is still major support for Harris, some Republicans believe that the trend will work in their favor.
“When I first started in politics in 1978, the managerial class was Republican — no one votes the way their bosses vote,” Charlie O’Connor, the 45th Ward GOP Leader, said. “Now, most people in the managerial class vote Democratic and no one is voting the way their boss is. So it’s been a flip. Most of the bosses are Democrats and the Democratic Party has become the party of the upper middle class.”
Pennsylvania’s Latino community could determine the outcome of the election. Census data reveals that Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic group in Philadelphia.
Currently, there are over 600,000 eligible Latino voters in the state.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Leave a Comment