Eighty odd days until we vote!

[which_chick]

If you're in the USA, please check your registration and make sure that you're correctly registered to vote. It's important.

In a related note, I drove from my home in Breezewood PA to Gettsyburg PA via US Route 30 on Monday. This is relevant because it's basically a snapshot of what "Rural Pennsylvania" is doing.

Philly and Pittsburgh (and their collar counties) vote reliably Democratic. However, damn near the entire rest of the state --and there is a lot of it-- still contains enough votes to tip the state red in some races, including the presidential election. I'm trying to get a read on where Pennsylvania's Vast Tracts of Electoral Votes might wind up in November.

In 2016 and in 2020, there were many Trump signs in my area. Lots of bumper stickers, flags, etc. Fwiw, there are still a lot of faded, tattered Trump 2020 flags. But there aren't a lot of *new* Trump signs or flags. People aren't going out and getting new Trump swag, at least not yet.

This could be because everyone is on a tight budget these days? The inflation thing has moderated a little but folks are still feeling squeezed from that because wages always lag inflation. Maybe they want new Trump swag but they just don't have money to spend on Trump swag.

This could be because they still have their faded, tattered Trump 2020 flags and signs. They don't need new swag because they still have Make America Great Again swag that works fine. (Most of it just says Trump anyway, no running mate is mentioned. It's kinda... cult of personality swag.) And so they aren't buying new swag because they already have swag.

Or this could be that folks are quietly not-so-thrilled about Trump, at least to the point where they don't want to give him money or buy his retread swag. They might not take down their old swag, but they also won't buy new and they might be uniniterested enough to just stay home in November.

I do not know what is causing the lack o' new Trump swag. But on my drive from Breezewood to Gettysburg on US Route 30 on Monday, I saw exactly 2 "Trump 2024" yard signs. I've seen one in Bedford, as well. But... that's not very many signs.

It's still early days, obviously, but I feel like there should be more signs. I feel like in previous election years, there WERE more signs.

Anyone else living in red areas on the map? What's your read on the Trump swag situation?

Comments

[aerinha]

Rural Maine. I've seen a few new signs/flags but yes, nothing like 2020. I've also witnessed local well-known Republicans speaking against Trump, which gives me great hope.

[which_chick]

I'm... cautiously hopeful. It's still early days.

[unicornduke]

I've seen some signs and flags go up but they're the intense ones, who had those kind of things up for years and usually more than one. A decent amount of signs have come down including a lot of let's go Brandon ones. I feel like there was a lot more last time as well.

[sunshine304]

I'm mostly watching the US election news unfolding with a weird (heh) mix of trepidation and cautious hope from over here. Reporting definitely feels for hopeful now that Harris/Walz are on the ballot and the Democrats have discovered how to use media to their advantage at least some of the time.

At least from the outside, it seems like a good sign that there are less Trump flags and signs out - though of course those people might still vote for him, as it seems they might vote for a literal shitstain if it's Republican. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It does seem like an improvement that there are some Republican politicians who are actively speaking against Trump and are endorsing Harris. That might sway some more moderate Republicans who are very conservative but not downright insane, after all.

This will be a long two months...

[which_chick]

It's still very much a horse race, to be sure, but I'm deep in the heart of Trump Country so I don't get much of a feel for how things are going for Ms. Harris. In 2020, 85% of the folks in my county voted for Trump. (This is my county.) It's a small county with a low population -- we had fewer than 8,000 votes total cast for president in that election. In the grand scheme of things, it's 100% tiny tubers over here.

[sunshine304]

Yikes that looks awful, that's true. I hope it doesn't look this bad this time around, and there's always the fact that many people just don't vote at all, so Republicans winning doesn't necessarily mean everyone there loves them. But as usual, conservatives are much more likely to go and vote than anyone else. *sigh*

[mistressofmuses]

I'm in a pretty blue area of my mostly-blue state (though Colorado similarly does have enough variability that it's not a guarantee, just a likelihood.) We have traveled through a few redder areas, and unfortunately still have at least a few of the fucking *massive* trump signs that some of the rural assholes with lots of land set up. The ones that are bigger than my whole apartment, and probably also have a few bible verses thrown in.

But in terms of more normal yard signs and flags and such. Kinda same... some of the same stuff out at the same houses, but looking a bit more faded. About the only "new" thing I've seen is updated bumper stickers, but that'd be the cheapest possible swag to buy. And I haven't noticed the assholes with their "trump merch" tents setting up in the Walmart parking lot any time recently. I did see an "I'm voting for trump!" sticker on the cart corral at the grocery store. Way fewer maga hats around. Unfortunately I know there are a lot of people who fully bought into the cult mentality and will never change their minds, and will simply double-triple-quadruple down... but it does feel like there are fewer, er, "casual fans" around these days.