YORK, Pa. — Moe Leisenring wants a president who won’t “mess” with his Social Security checks and who will act to tame the chaos at the southern border.
The newly retired 67-year-old, walking out of a Walmart in York, said he figures he can always get a job if Social Security dries up. But he’s got no similar personal answer for the border.
And that means Mr. Leisenring, who has never voted for a Republican presidential candidate before, is considering casting a ballot for former President Donald Trump this year.
“I might have to support him, but don’t really want to,” Mr. Leisenring said. “But I know Trump, he shut that [border] down.”
A triumphant Trump return to the White House could hinge on sealing the deal with immigration-concerned fence-sitters in crucial swing states — including Pennsylvania, which is shaping up to be a must-win for Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris.
An Emerson College/PennsylvaniaRealClear poll this month showed Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump tied at 47% in Pennsylvania with the third-party candidates in the mix. Voters told the pollsters that the top issues were the economy (51%), threats to democracy (12%), immigration (8%), housing affordability (6%), health care (6%) and abortion access (5%).
Last month, Mr. Trump led Ms. Harris, 51% to 45%, in the same poll.
Indeed, Ms. Harris is posing new political problems for Mr. Trump.
A race that had largely been a referendum on President Biden has shifted the focus back to Mr. Trump since the Democratic Party switched up the presidential ticket with Ms. Harris on top.
“She’s the lesser of the evils right now,” said Wanda Rider, a 62-year-old who works as a chef in a senior living facility. “She’s not Trump. Let’s give her a shot.”
Ms. Rider said she had “nothing nice” to say about Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump has ramped up his attacks against Ms. Harris and used her White House role as “border czar” as a cudgel.
He warned voters she has supported policies that have led to high-profile killings and rape of young women by illegal immigrants and made it harder for Black and Hispanic voters to find good-paying jobs.
“She has allowed millions of people to flow into our country totally unchecked, totally unvetted,” Mr. Trump said during a campaign stop in Michigan. “The ’Border Czar’ Kamala Harris has allowed hordes of illegal alien criminals to literally stampede into our country.”
Mr. Trump said he would end that on Day One: “We are going to close the border.”
The Trump campaign put the issue front and center at the Republican National Convention last month.
Speakers at the convention included a woman whose son was killed by an overdose of fentanyl, which is pouring over the border along with migrants, and the family of a Maryland mother who was slain on a jogging trail, police say by an illegal immigrant.
At their convention, Democrats insisted things are getting better at the border.
“Border encounters have dropped over 50%. In fact, there are fewer border crossings today than when Donald Trump left office,” Mr. Biden said Aug. 19 from the convention stage in Chicago.
He is wrong about the border numbers. More than 122,000 illegal immigrants were encountered at the northern and southern borders last month — the best month of Mr. Biden’s tenure. In December 2020, the last full month under Mr. Trump, though, the figure was just 76,200.
Over Mr. Biden’s three-and-a-half years in office, the country has netted roughly 4 million new illegal immigrants now living in the U.S.
Mr. Trump pressed the issue on Thursday at a campaign event in Montezuma Pass, Arizona, which has been a hotspot for illegal crossings.
“This is nation-wrecking,” Mr. Trump said of the Biden-Harris border policies.
The message hits home with voters far away from the border who say the millions of new arrivals are stressing government budgets and fueling more crime.
That includes voters such as Chuck Becker, a registered independent in York who said he is leaning heavily toward Mr. Trump. He’s worried about rising prices and the danger of a border-fueled attack on the U.S.
“You got to close the border,” the 66-year-old Navy veteran said. “You don’t know who they are, and all of a sudden, a mall is going to blow up or something, and you’re going to say, how did that happen? Well, I can tell you how it happened. You let them across the border.”
Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said Mr. Trump’s fate in Pennsylvania hinges on voters from smaller, economically challenged cities such as York and Wilkes Barre.
“These are fairly populous counties that went solidly for him in both 2016 and 2020 and to have a real chance of taking back Pa. in 2024 he will need to maximize the turnout and yield in these types of places,” Mr. Borick said in an email. “This is all the more important if Harris is able to gain back ground Biden lost among voters of color and younger voters.”
One voter Ms. Harris doesn’t have to worry about is Joyce, a 79-year-old who declined to give her last name as she delivered a blunt assessment of Mr. Trump. She said she wished the shooter at the failed assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, had hit the target.
“He is Hitler reincarnated,” she said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.