2 polls show toss-up race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in Pennsylvania
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A year before the next presidential election, it looks like another toss-up in Pennsylvania.
As KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano reports, two polls are predicting a jump ball for this state's electoral votes.
All signs point to a presidential rematch in 2024: Democrat Joe Biden versus Republican Donald Trump.
The Susquehanna poll shows Biden leading Trump 47 percent to 45 percent, while the Quinnipiac poll has Trump leading Biden 47 percent to 45 percent. It is a statistical tie in both polls because of the margin of error.
"If the election were tonight, it would be a tie and we would be talking about it for months," said Tim Malloy of the Quinnipiac poll.
In 2016, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in this state by less than 1 percent, and Biden beat Trump by just over 1 percent in 2020.
"This isn't rocket science here," said Jim Lee of the Susquehanna poll. "We are a very purple state because most voters don't consider themselves to be on the hard right or the hard left. They're in the middle."
Both Lee and Malloy say what's amazing is Trump's staying power despite four criminal indictments and multiple civil complaints.
"The indictments have had absolutely no negative impact," Malloy said.
"In this poll, 85 percent of Republican voters said they had a favorable opinion of Donald Trump," Lee said.
In next spring's Republican primary, Trump's support, according to Quinnipiac, has grown from 49 percent to 61 percent. His closest rival, Florida Governor Ron Desantis, saw his support in this state drop from 25 percent to 14 percent. The Susquehanna poll was almost exactly the same.
In 2020, independent voters broke for Biden by eight points, 52 to 44. Those voters will be key in 2024. In the latest polls, Susquehanna has Biden up 11 points among independents, while Quinnipiac has Trump leading independents by nine points.
