ERIE, Pa. — Tiffany Irwin peeked out her front door on a recent morning to see her neighbors’ yards populated with Trump and Harris signs as nearly everyone has already declared their allegiance in this must-win battleground state.
Not Ms. Irwin. She’s a political unicorn — one of the few who plans to vote but is still undecided about whether to go with Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump. And, in the politically polarized world of 2024, her indecision is costing her friends.
“I have a few friends that we are not friends anymore because they are like, ‘I am voting Trump. We are not talking,’” the 39-year-old mother of three boys said.
It’s not just on the right. She said she also gets the cold shoulder from her pro-Harris friends.
She’s popular with at least two people, and they are spending millions to win her vote in the less than four weeks until Nov. 5. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump had a pair of campaign events in Pennsylvania. Ms. Harris will hold a rally on Monday in Erie.
Analysts argue over how many undecided voters are still up for grabs.
The New York Times says it is as high as 1 in 6 voters.
An Insider Advantage poll conducted this week in Pennsylvania found Mr. Trump leading Ms. Harris by 2 points, 49% to 47%, and 2% undecided.
The pool of undecided voters has shrunk over time, according to Emerson College polling, which last week found that 2% of Pennsylvania voters are undecided, compared to 3% at this time in 2020 and 6% in 2016.
These voters tend to be white working class, moderate in their views, and less consumed with politics than others. They want change and are unhappy with the direction of the country, according to analysts.
With that as a backdrop, Mr. Trump has been running ads calling Ms. Harris “clueless” on the economy and highlighting how Ms. Harris “supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners,”
“Kamala’s agenda is they them, not you,” the narrator says in the ad.
Ms. Harris’ TV ads warn Mr. Trump’s plan “could ban IVF” in some states and accuse him of dividing Americans.
“You’ve probably seen all these negative ads against me. Well, here’s the deal. They are designed to tear us apart,” Ms. Harris says in the ad.
Some undecided voters were skeptical of President Biden but were more open to Mr. Harris as the Democrats’ nominee and were waiting for her to erase doubts about her ability to lead and safeguard the nation in these turbulent times.
Many are juggling whether they are ready to trade in the rowdy Trump era for more docile politics or whether they still want him to shake up a government they think doesn’t work for them anymore.
The lion’s share of voters has been locked up for months, if not years, with Mr. Trump being the chief fault line.
“There’s never Trumpers and there’s Trumpers,” said Tracey, a Trump supporter in western Pennsylvania who declined to share his last name. “You can never sway them either way.”
“I have got family that’s total anti-Trump, and it’s not because they think that Harris is any better by any means,” he said. “They just hate him.”
Mr. Trump’s presence on the ballot for a third time has also left many voters feeling that this election is particularly momentous.
“I’d never vote for him. He’s no good,” said Kathy, 82, who also declined to give her last name. “All my brothers and sisters, they like that stupid idiot.”
Ron Ingaldi, 69, a retired member of the United Auto Workers, said he backed Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020 and recently switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican because he got sick of how his former party was treating Mr. Trump.
“All these lawsuits and dragging him into court and everything. It’s ridiculous,” Mr. Ingaldi said.
Ms. Irwin, an unaffiliated voter, has switched parties for years. In previous elections, she backed President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Mr. Trump.
She said politics is essential, but people would be better off putting their passion into other areas of life.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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