John Fetterman on How Harris Can Win Pennsylvania as Polls Show Dead Heat

Senator John Fetterman appeared on MSNBC’s Katy Tur Reports on Monday to share how he believes Vice President Kamala Harris “is going to win” the battleground state of Pennsylvania as polls show a dead heat against former President Donald Trump.
“Spend any time all across in small-county Pennsylvania, you see a lot of support. And there’s a lot of energy there for Trump. And I want people to understand that. It’s true and it’s there, and if we don’t take it very seriously, then we do at our own peril on that,” Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, told Tur. “I do believe Kamala Harris is going to prevail on that, but we must—we can’t forget that Trump has an appeal in Pennsylvania, and we need to make sure we show up everywhere.”
Harris is going to win the debate Tuesday night, which will be held in Philadelphia, even if Trump has a “strong performance too,” the senator predicted.
However, Fetterman said that due to “what has happened” in the past, Tuesday’s debate might not change people’s minds. From Trump’s various criminal trials and impeachments as well as the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot and the former president’s assassination attempt, the senator said he’s “not really convinced that this debate’s going to change [minds] in a significant kind of way, one way or the other.”
A survey by Patriot Polling conducted between September 1 and 3 found that Harris and Trump are in a “dead heat” across the seven swing states that President Joe Biden flipped by a narrow margin during the 2020 election. According to the pollster, Trump is set to win Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, while Harris is set to narrowly win Michigan and Wisconsin.
Polling aggregate site FiveThirtyEight’s averages show Harris with a small lead, 46.6 to 45.7 percent, over Trump in Pennsylvania. And according to RealClear Polling’s averages, as of Monday afternoon, Harris and Trump are tied in the state at 47.6 percent.
Both candidates have focused heavily on swing states, with Trump spending drastically more on ads in Pennsylvania ($132.1 million) than nationally ($31.2 million), from March 5 onward, according to campaign monitoring firm AdImpact Politics.
Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral College votes are the most among the seven key swing states.
In his appearance with Tur, Fetterman continued to predict another close race in Pennsylvania this year. Biden flipped his home state in 2020, and no Democrat has won without Pennsylvania since 1948.
“I was very concerned in 2016, and unfortunately that’s what happened. And in 2020, Joe Biden leaned in and done the kinds of things that were needed to win Pennsylvania. And he did that, but it was still very close. And I don’t think there’s going to be a runaway in Pennsylvania. It’s going to be very close,” Fetterman said.
Although Harris has spent more nationally ($165.2 million) than on the crucial swing state, her spending on Pennsylvania is not far behind, at $150.1 million.
Fetterman closed his remarks to Tur on Monday by stating, “So, I want everybody to know on this. I do believe that Harris is going to win, and Trump is going to have a strong performance [in the debate] too, but I do not think it’s going to change the underlying dynamic that I’ve already been discussing…since 2016.”
Newsweek has emailed the Trump and Harris campaigns on Monday afternoon for comment.
The issue of fracking is likely to be a sticking point among voters in Pennsylvania where a yearslong fracking boom has lifted the state economy. Fracking, a term derived from “hydraulic fracturing,” refers to a method of extracting oil and gas. It involves the infusion of water, sand and chemicals into rocks to stimulate the release of these resources.
While environmental activists and some scientists have warned that fracking may be contributing to climate change, others have said that pivoting away from fossil fuels completely would not be economically sustainable.
While running in the 2020 Democratic primary, Harris expressed support for a national ban on fracking, saying in a CNN town hall: “There’s no question I am in favor of banning fracking.”
However, she has reversed her position since becoming the Democratic nominee.
In a recent interview with CNN, she defended the reversal and said, “My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate.”
She continued: “And to do that, we can do what we have accomplished thus far. The Inflation Reduction Act. What we have done to invest, by my calculation, probably a trillion dollars over the next few years, investing in a clean energy economy. What we’ve already done creating over 300,000 new clean energy jobs. That tells me, from my experience as vice president, we can do it without banning fracking.”
Fracking is not only a significant issue in Pennsylvania but also a key component of Trump’s energy agenda. Throughout his campaign, he has championed the “drill, baby, drill” slogan, emphasizing the need for the U.S. to increase domestic oil production to ensure energy independence and dominance.
Update: 09/09/24, 6:28 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.