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Many Pennsylvanians Split Their Ticket in 2016

ballotTicket-splitting is becoming rarer and rarer in American politics.

That’s what makes this past November so notable for the Keystone State.

We already knew that Republicans Donald Trump (48.58%) and Pat Toomey (48.77%) were able to prevail in their races while Democrats Josh Shapiro (51.39%), Joe Torsella (50.66%) and Eugene DePasquale (50.01%) performed even better further down on the ballot.

Furthermore, a new report from Brandon Finnigan of Decision Desk HQ, reveals that three Congressional districts in Pennsylvania voted for Presidential and Congressional nominees of different parties. This is especially significant since there were only thirty-five such districts nationwide.

Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright, for example was re-elected by a 53.8% to 46.2% margin while Donald Trump won it 53.72% to 43%.

As I pointed out in my precinct-by-precinct review of the presidential contest, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre were particularly weak areas for Hillary Clinton. Therefore, it shouldn’t be that much of a shock that Trump won PA-17.

On the other hand, Republican Congressmen Ryan Costello and Pat Meehan saw Clinton win their districts. Reps. Costello and Meehan secured 57.24% and 59.47% respectively while Clinton won PA-6 and PA-7 with 47.58% and 49.93%.

Once again, we were aware that Democrats were disappointed in their nominees for these SEPA races, a feeling that now must be magnified.

It’s worth pointing out that Pat Meehan is weighing a bid against Senator Bob Casey in 2018. If he takes the leap and PA-7 becomes an open seat, it would almost assuredly become the Democrats top target for the 2018 cycle.

4 Responses

  1. Excellent analysis and most productively provocative inquiry.

    My questions are:

    Who is the Trump NOT Toomey voter?

    Who is the Toomey NOT Trump voters?

    Who is the Trump OR Toomey AND Shapiro voter? or variations on these questions.

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