Former Vice President Joe Biden often talks about his Scranton roots along the campaign trail and according to this latest poll, the Scranton native is the preferred presidential candidate over President Donald Trump in the Democratic stronghold. 

According to a new Public Policy Polling survey, 65% of voters in Scranton said that they’d vote for Biden if the presidential election were held today, while 30% said they’d vote for Trump, and 5% said they were unsure. 

According to the analysts at FiveThirtyEight, PPP favors Democrats by an average of 0.3% and has an overall B grade.

Trump’s job approval rating is also significantly under water in Scranton. 30% approve of Trump’s job performance, while 64% disapprove, and 6% aren’t sure. These ratings are nearly reversed when voters are asked if they have a favorable opinion of Biden. 61% have a favorable opinion of Biden, while 33% have an unfavorable opinion of him, and 6% aren’t sure. 

During a campaign visit to the Scranton region on August 20, Trump claimed that Biden “abandoned Pennsylvania and Scranton,” while promising to never let the voters down in the area. Biden and his family moved from Scranton to Delaware when he was 10 years old, according to the AP. 

Despite this claim by Trump that Biden “abandoned Scranton,” over half of voters from the city, 63%, don’t think that Biden abandoned Scranton, while 26% said that he did abandon Scranton, and 12% aren’t sure. 

A majority of voters from Scranton also said that they are proud that Biden is from Scranton and think he cares about the people there. 62% said that they are proud that Biden is from Scranton, while 20% said that they are ashamed that Biden is from there, and 17% aren’t sure. 

64% said that they think Biden cares about people in Scranton, while 28% said that they don’t think Biden cares about people in Scranton, and 8% aren’t sure. Two-thirds, 67%, said that Trump doesn’t care about the people in Scranton, while 27% said that they think Trump cares about people in Scranton, and 6% aren’t sure. 

Voters in Scranton also overwhelmingly approve of the job performance of both Gov. Tom Wolf and Sen. Bob Casey, while nearly half approve of Mayor Paige Cognetti. 

65% approve of Wolf’s job performance as governor, while 29% disapprove, and 6% aren’t sure. 60% approve of Casey’s job performance as senator, while 25% disapprove, and 15% aren’t sure. 48% approve of Cognetti’s job performance as mayor, while 19% disapprove, and 33% aren’t sure. 

56% polled said that they voted for Sec. Hillary Clinton for president in 2016, while 29% said that they voted for Trump, and 15% said they voted for someone else or didn’t vote at all in the election. 

According to this poll, Biden’s 65-to-30 lead over Trump would be better than Clinton’s 2016 performance in the city, although it’s not as wide as President Barack Obama’s margin of victory over then-Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012 there. 

This poll has Biden up 65-30 in the city of Scranton. Better than HRC 2016, worse than Obama 2012 (similar to Obama 2008) https://t.co/KS0EvcoL8k pic.twitter.com/pq4RaJaykI

— Kyle Kondik (@kkondik) August 24, 2020

While Biden holds strong numbers in the city of Scranton, Trump made significant gains in Northeast Pennsylvania in 2016, which has been a region that has become symbolic for the Obama-Trump voter. 

According to a recent Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll of Pennsylvania likely voters that showed Biden leading Trump by 4 points, 48-to-44, Trump’s strongest region of the state is Northeast PA where the president leads the former VP by 33 points, 61-to-28.

The Real Clear Politics Average shows Biden besting Trump by 5.7 points in Pennsylvania. 

This poll, surveying 402 Scranton voters, collected data between August 21-22, has a margin of error of +/- 4.9%. 

The full Scranton survey can be found here. PPP also surveyed voters where Trump grew up, Queens, NYC. The Queens survey can be found here.